The Enemy Within
by Chrono180
Summary: Hanako thought she was better. So did Hisao. So did Lilly. Apocalypse however knew differently... Sequel to "Katawa superpowers." Read that before this one, otherwise this one won't make much sense.
1. Prelude: Heirs to Darkness

Apocalypse was missing.

This was not unusual. Ozymandias' lord and master would often vanish for months or years or even decades at a time. Usually to gather his strength after his excursions. Being over four thousand years old proved damaging on the body, even for an immortal mutant such as he.

But this time was different.

This time, Apocalypse had left instructions.

Ozymandias was to institute the heritage protocols.

A series of faces appeared on a computer screen.

DESIGNATION: ROLFSON, AUTUMN: STATUS: SLAIN BY X-FACTOR

DESIGNATION: CALIBAN STATUS: SLAIN BY MR SINISTER

DESIGNATION: KIEROS, ABRAHAM : STATUS: SLAIN BY MARAUDERS

DESIGNATION: ELANE, TRISTIN: STATUS: SLAIN BY POWER PACK

DESIGNATION: NERAMANI, CAL'SYEE: STATUS: MISSING FOLLOWING EVENTS OF KREE-SHI'AR WAR.

DESIGNATION: KRISTIK, JONATHAN: STATUS: SLAIN BY VOIDSTAR

DESIGNATION: VALDEZ, TOMAS: STATUS: SLAIN BY VOIDSTAR

DESIGNATION: AWOLOWO , BAKKO: STATUS: SLAIN BY PSYLOCKE

DESIGNATION: HOWLETT, JAMES: STATUS: TAINT REMOVED FOLLOWING ENCOUNTER WITH SCARLET WITCH

DESIGNATION: BANNER, BRUCE: STATUS: UNKNOWN

Ozymandias then looked at the final two faces on the screen.

DESIGNATION: WORTHINGTING, WARREN: STATUS: ALIVE

DESIGNATION: IKEZAWA, HANAKO: STATUS: ALIVE

"Only two potential candidates?" Ozymandias muttered, "No matter, the strongest will win."

He then reached hand over to a sinister looking lever and pulled it downwards.


	2. 1: The voice

Hanako walked forward, staring at the man caught in her forcefield fist. Hisao looked up at her desperately as she pulled the cage towards her.

"You are in my way." She stated, "Time to die."

Hisao stared at her, horrified, "Please. Fight this!" He got out.

She raised a hand and the field tightened significantly, but ran into resistance.

"You're immune to the crushing." She said, "No matter, I have another way."

She willed a field to form inside his head, and then prepared to expand it...

And that point woke up gasping for breath.

"No..." she mumbled "No, I'm okay...I can get over this." She said the words even thought she wasn't completely sure if they were true. Ten weeks since she had nearly killed Hisao. Ten weeks she had been trying to recover. It was a painfully slow process, and while she was improving, the fact was still that she was trying to get over what was, if not the most traumatic event of her life, a major contender for the title.. Reaching over to her nightstand, she found a bottle of Prazosin and choked down a pill, then took some deep breaths.

"I'm better." She stated, trying to convince herself it was the case, "I'm going to be alright. I've got friends, a lover, a healed face, and excellent grades in my classes. I am going to be alright."

"_Really_?" She heard someone say. The voice was icy, and Hanako couldn't help but think she had heard it somewhere before.

"What- whose there?" She called out, "Is someone here?"

There was no response. She brushed her fingers against the right side of her face nervously.

"Must have imagined it." She mumbled under her breath. She then glanced at her clock. It was almost time for class. She threw on some clothes, grabbed her bag, then walked out.

On her way there she was stopped when she heard her name being called.

"Hanako, hey, Hanako!" A boy ran up to her.

"Denjiro?" she asked,

"Yeah, hey. I just..." The boy blushed slightly, "I wanted to ask you if you'd like to go out with me after class today? I mean you're pretty cute and..."

"I'm very sorry Denjiro." Hanako said, shaking her head, "I have a boyfriend already."

"Oh..." Denjiro nodded sadly, "I should have guessed. Do you get that a lot?"

"Lately? Yes." Hanako shrugged. "Seven confessions in eight weeks. Kinda sad really, when my face was messed up hardly anyone gave me a second glance. Now that I'm healed, everyone wants a part of me. I mean, I'm still the same person underneath..."

"I guess that is kind of shallow of me. Sorry, I just thought..."

"It's okay." Hanako nodded, "Human nature, sad as it is."

"If you don't mind my asking...what happened? How did your face get fixed?"

Hanako visibly flinched, "I'd rather not talk about that."

"Oh, sorry."

"It's fine." Hanako glanced at her watch, "I gotta go, class is about to start."

Hanako walked off. Truth was, as glad as she was that her face was healed, she still wasn't sure if it had been worth everything that came with it. For the longest time, it had been her greatest wish, but after being kidnapped and nearly having killed Hisao, she had been forced to realize that there were things more important than being "normal." Well, in actuality, "normal" was major overstatement. After all, how many twenty one year olds could make force fields? Normal wasn't the right word. Good looking maybe? In any case, she had friends. They were far more important.

Hanako walked briskly down the hall and just outside of her classroom she saw Trevor hanging around.

"Hey there sweetie," he said, "How you holding up?"

"Hey," Hanako grinned and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, "Doing alright. Nightmares again last night, but I'm managing."

"Good to hear. Just thought I'd stop by and check on the program we've been working on. How's it coming along?"

"Almost ready, a few more days and my part should be finished. Yours?"

"Finished it last night. AI is always tricky, but I got it." Trevor nodded

"Impressive, your skill never ceases to astound me."

Trevor shrugged, "Been working on something else in my spare time. A search engine that actually gets the context of what you're saying, rather than just matching words. I mean, they're so primitive in this era."

"If you can get that working you could revolutionize the industry. Put Google out of business. I think..."

_"Kill him."_ An icy voice came from nowhere.

"Did you hear that?" Hanako suddenly asked.

"Hear what?" Trevor said, clearly confused.

"I thought I heard someone saying something..."

Just then the bell rung. Hanako shrugged and went into her class.

After a particularly boring lecture about protein synthesis, she exited the class and the voice started again.

"_The others will never accept you, you know,"_ it said, _"To them you're still that freak with burns all up and down the right side of your body. You'll never be anything different."_

Hanako's eyes darted around the crowded hallway, trying to pinpoint the source.

"Who are you?" She asked, "Why are you telling me these things?"

"Um, Hanako." A guy said, "Who are you talking to?"

Hanako shook her head. "I'm going crazy." she muttered to herself, "That or I'm being talked to by some ghost or something. But crazy's a lot more likely. Side effects of the Prazosin, maybe? Oneirophrenia has occurred in a small subset of users..."

She shook her head and walked to her next class. "Better stop taking it." she mumbled, "thought I should probably check with my psychiatrist first." She pulled out her phone.

"Hello there Hanako," a voice spoke and interrupted her concentration.

"Oh, hi Lilly," Hanako replied.

"How are you doing?" Lilly asked, a clearly worried tone in her voice.

Hanako shrugged, "I'm surviving. And wishing I never found that godstone, to be honest." she then suddenly shook her head, "Actually no, I don't mean that. That would be selfish to say considering our powers healed Hisao's heart, turned Misha and Shizune into superheros and gave you the ability to navigate without your cane. So no, I'm glad I found the godstone, I just wish I hadn't... you know."

Lilly patted her on the shoulder. "I know, but it happened anyway. But you're going to be alright."

"I hope so." Hanako shook her head sadly, "I keep having nightmares, even with my medication. Which I'm going to need to stop now, sadly."

"Why ever for?"

"I'm hearing voices. Dreaming while you're awake is a known side effect, so I'm thinking this is just a variant."

"That's unfortunate..." Lilly frowned slightly

"Yeah, but to quote Kurt Vonnegut 'so it goes.' Side effects happen." Hanako shrugged, "Could be worse. At least it's not a paradoxical reaction that made the problem intensify. Or that it made me gain weight uncontrollably. Or anything else, really."

Lilly nodded.

"How are you and Hisao doing?" Hanako asked.

"Very well. His telepathy has become quite advanced. Last night he showed me one of Rin's works. I must say, it was possibly the most unusual image to date."

Hanako chuckled a little, "Not for those new to sight, for sure. But she's got talent. A lot of talent. Considering she got a cosmic entity to date her based on her artwork, I'd say she's ten steps ahead of anyone other artist on this planet."

"Indeed." Lilly smiled. "It's funny, you know. Most everyone thinks of such beings as having no concept of how normal people think, but I believe that deep down they're just as human as the rest of us."

"I wouldn't go that far. If you look at say...Galactus-"

"Galactus was once like us actually. Back before the big bang, he was a scientist called Galan. But everyone he knew died when our universe started." Lilly smiled.

"Really? How do you know that?" Hanako inquired

"Hisao's been bringing home files from the X-corp. We've been going over them in our spare time. There is a lot to go through." She chuckled a little, "It's pretty interesting stuff. And you should see Hisao's reaction to some of the concepts. When he learned about the "living laser," well... Let's just say light shouldn't work that way."

Hanako nodded and then remembered something. "There's something that's been bothering me. When the Chronomancer attacked two weeks ago, his armor said that you were the most powerful of all of us. But all you can do is sense object's histories...Why would it say that?"

Lilly shrugged, "I don't know. Kenji mentioned at one point that..what was it? There was a seventy five percent chance of my gaining molecular warping powers? Something like that."

"Really?" Hanako inquired, "So maybe you just haven't unlocked your potential yet?"

Lilly shrugged again, "Maybe, but I'm not to worried about it. I'm fine the way I am. I don't need flashy superpowers to make a difference in the world."

"Very true. You made a huge difference to me." Hanako glanced at her watch, "Oh, man. I gotta go. Going to be late for class. See you later!"

She patted Lilly on the shoulder and walked briskly down the hall.

_"You resent her, don't you?"_ the voice came again, _"About how she's perfectly comfortable with herself? How she's so self-confident and always at ease? Don't you hate that?"_

"No." Hanako said firmly, "She's my friend. I admire her, not resent her. Why am I talking to you anyway? You're not real."

"_Oh, I'm real alright."_

"No you're not. You're just medication gone bad."

There was an icy laugh, but the voice didn't answer.

Hanako shrugged and entered her next class.

"_Why do you tolerate these fools?" _She heard towards the end of the class. _"You could slay them all if you had any spine in you."_

"Shut up," she mumbled, "Get out of my head."

The moment the bell rung, she ran out into the hall and dialed her psychiatrist's number.


	3. 2: The nightmare at hand

"You are two miligrams of Prazosin, Oahhas, correct?" Her psychiatrist asked over the phone, his familiar vocal tic interrupting his sentence midway through.

"Yes." Hanako replied

"In that case, reduce it down to one milligram tonight, Oahhhas, then wait seven days to stop taking it completely."

"Seven days? I'm going to have to hear this voice for another week?" Hanako flinched at the thought.

"Quite possibly, Oahh, however..." her doctor's voice trailed off.

"However...?" Hanako repeated.

"I must say that hallucinations at such a low dose is very unusual. Oahh, I'm beginning to wonder if there's something else going on."

"You think I'm going crazy." Hanako said. It was a statement, not a question.

"Well, let's not rush to conclusions. Undergoing side effects, probably. Crazy, maybe. But there's nothing wrong with crazy. Kenji fellow you mentioned to me sounds perfectly functional despite his eccentricities." Her doctor said frankly, "What is the voice saying?"

Hanako paused, "It's telling me other people hate me, that I hate other people..." she hesitated, "It told me to kill someone, but I'm not going to."

"So, you don't feel obliged to follow it's commands?"

"No." Hanako said flatly, "Not at all."

"Most Interesting... Oaahh, Oahha. With normal schizophrenia, auditory hallucinations tend to be most overpowering. Are you available later today? I would like to run an analysis if possible."

"I could make it around six. Does that sound good?"

"Certainly. Oahh. I will see you then."

Hanako hung up the phone and checked her watch. Still had fifty minutes on her lunch break. Trevor had classes during this time on Mondays, unfortunately, but maybe she could meet up with Hisao and Lilly. She began walking towards the South Cafe they usually hung out in. Along the way, she began to think. Could she be going crazy? It was normal for schizophrenics to have their issues manifest in college ages, but she didn't fit the other symptoms of the disorder at all. Her emotions were perfectly normal, she no longer isolated herself from society and her beliefs were grounded in reality. Schizophrenia was unlikely, but what if...

A chill ran up her spine. What if Apocalypse did something to her when she was kidnapped? She had been under that monster's thrall for days, what if the mind control had other effects that she hadn't gotten out of? But why would they manifest now of all times? She had broken free of his control, and hadn't heard of anything since then. She was better, wasn't she? Wasn't she?

She flung open the door to the South Cafe and took a deep breath. "Let's not borrow trouble." she mumbled to herself. She walked up to the counter and ordered a slice of cheesecake, then took the number she was handed over to her friend's place in the corner.

"Hey there Hanako," Hisao said as she walked over, then he noticed the pensive look on her face "Is something wrong?"

"Not sure yet." Hanako said softly and sat down next to him. She took a deep breath and looked at Hisao for a long moment.

"Hisao," she finally said, "When other people have...gone through what happened to me... were their any aftereffects?"

Hisao stopped to think. There were a number of things she could be referring to. Getting caught in a house fire, gaining superpowers, undergoing a extrodinarily unlikely cure, being turned into a Horseman of Apocalypse. He figured she was probably referring to the last bit and gave a worried glance at Lilly before turning back.

"Its hard to say," Hisao replied, "Most of Apocalypse's horsemen are killed shortly after their transformation."

"And the ones that haven't?"

"Aside from you, the only survivor of such an experience is Warren Worthington the third, AKA Archangel. Well, not the only survior. Wolverine and the Hulk were transformed too but Logan was immediately reverted back following that bit with Wanda and Hulk... isn't the kind of person you test in a laboratory.."

"What happened to him? The Angel?" Hanako pressed.

"Hanako, I thought you were thinking it was a medication issue?" Lilly asked.

"Maybe it is, I'm not sure, but I'm worrying..." Hanako's voiced trailed off "Look, just tell me, ok?"

"The short answer is that Angel's wings started acting of their own accord." Hisao stated, "They would lash out whenever he got angry or upset, and at one point decapitated an enemy that was sneaking up behind him."

"But no hallucinations?"

"Not as far as I know." Hisao shrugged, "Wait, hallucinations?"

Hanako nodded, "I've been hearing someone telling me to do bad things, like kill people...Am I losing my mind?"

Hisao paused, "Would you like me to check?"

Hanako nodded and Hisao reached out telepathically, entering her consciousness. It was the first time he had ever been in Hanako's head when she was in her right state of mind, and he sensed it as a sort of library, containing thousands of books as well as a number of computers. There was something definitely not right, but he couldn't put his finger quite on what.

He traversed the shelves, taking a look at the titles. "Seventh Birthday Party," "First Newspaper Club Meeting," "Victimized by Middle School Bully." read a few. Hisao winced slightly. Hanako had always been rather vague about her past, and yet she was essentially permitting him to look into her mind's darkest corners. She must be really worried to allow such a thing, even to him.

He blinked, and then suddenly realized what was wrong in her head. Several of the books looked different than the others. Whereas most took the form of fairly normal novels and textbooks, a few were...sinister looking. They had no titles, they looked old, very old, and were bound in a black material that reminded Hisao of human flesh. Taking one out, he noticed it was covered in arcane symbols that he couldn't understand. He opened it. The left page was covered in hieroglyphics and the right had a picture of Hanako in metal armor and a yellow skull mask.

The picture on the page moved, and Hisao nearly dropped the book in shock.

"_Ah, the telepath."_ An icy voice stated, _"I remember you."_

"Who the hell are you?" Hisao snarled, "I DEMAND you get out of my friend's head!"

_"Oh, I don't think I will. And you know who I am. You helped her kill me the first time, after all."_ There was a deep chuckle, and Hisao wondered for a moment if he had gone too far.

Hisao concentrated on the book, attempted to erase it from her mind.

"Come on, remove yourself, remove yourself..." He mumbled, Then stared down at the book. It was still there.

"Somethings blocking me." There was a sudden, violent shake and Hisao was ejected out of his friends' mind.

"Are you ok?" Lilly asked as he regained consciousness in his seat, "You blanked out for a minute there."

"Hanako, I have some bad news..." Hisao said softly.

Hanako's eyes winded in fear.

"There's a foreign presence in your mind, and I'm not sure how to remove it. It appears Apocalypse...did something." Hisao cleared his throat, "However, I am going to do whatever I can to help you. As soon as we finish here, I will go straight to the X-corp and see what they know about this."

Hanako looked downward, her lip trembling slightly.

"Hanako, don't worry. We beat him once, I'm sure we can beat him again." Hisao looked at her, "You'll be alright. Don't worry."

Hanako nodded weakly. "I just don't want to hurt anyone." she said softly.

"Don't worry, you won't." Lilly said reassuringly, "You're too strong for that."

Hisao leaned over and gave Hanako a hug. She relaxed slightly, with a look of fear in her eyes.


	4. 3: Search for a solution

As Hisao drove down 34th street he began mumbling angrily to himself.

"This just HAD to happen, didn't it?" he fumed, "She had JUST gotten better and now THIS happened. I swear to God, if I ever see Apocalypse in person, I will TEAR HIS MIND APART. Goddamit, why could I have been kidnapped instead of her? She didn't deserve this, not in the least. NOBODY deserves it..."

He pulled into the parking lot of X-corp Toyko and stormed out of the car. Taking a deep breath to collect himself, he went inside.

Armor was at the front desk. With one hand she was filling out documents, with the other she was using the computer. Hisao blinked, somewhat impressed at her ambidexterity.

"I need to talk to Psylocke," he told her, "Where is she?"

"Down in the med-bay, but she is not to be disturbed unless it's an emergency." Armor replied

"Oh, it's an emergency all right. Med bay huh? Wonder why she's there." Hisao replied and went down the staircase into the basement. Quickly arriving at the medical office, he threw open the door.

"Betsy, we've got a problem. Hanako is-" he began but stopped. Betsy was there, yes, fiddling with dials on an piece of equipment, but there was another person. Lying inside a scanner was a tall man with blue skin and white feathered wings. He seemed to be asleep, and Psylocke looked up from her work to see him.

"This had better be important." she stated in her distinguished British accent.

"It is. Hanako's in trouble, has a foreign presence in her mind left by Apocalypse. I need your help to get it out."

A worried look crossed Betsy's face and she glanced over to the sleeping man in the med scanner. "Hanako too?" she asked.

"What?"

"My ex over there...Angel.." Psylocke shook her head, "He's been having a similar problem. Hearing voices, seeing things, having urges to kill people... I take it she's had the same effects.?"

"I don't think she's been wanting to kill anyone, yet. But there have been hallucinations." Hisao looked at her, worried. "I need your help."

"I wish I could. But I can't." Psylocke said, shaking her head. "I've been trying to help Warren here but the corruption is ingrained in his mind so deep that removing it would tear his brain apart."

"Are you serious?"

"As a heart attack." she replied, then rethought her statement, "Sorry, bad choice of words. Thing is, this is a very unusual form of influence. It's difficult to explain why, but this is unlike any other mental construct I have ever encountered. Most of the time, when this kind of the occurs the mental manipulation sits like a lump in the brain. In this case overs, it's spread all over at a very low level of processing. Removing it without damage... I wouldn't even know where to start."

"You've got to be kidding me! Are you telling me the X-men, who have five of the world's most powerful telepaths, can't fix this?" Hisao was getting a tad hysterical by this point.

"Hisao, calm down. Look, we're working on a solution. If we find one, we'll let you know."

"There's got to be something we can do."

"These solutions take time. I have every confidence we'll figure out a way-" Psylocke started, but Hisao shook his head.

"Let me rephrase. There's got to be something_ I _can do."

Psylocke shrugged, "If you've got resources we don't, feel free to use them. Lord knows I want a solution too." she looked back over at her Ex and shook her head, "I know how helpless you must feel, trust me."

"Really? When have you ever felt helpless? Whenever a problem comes along to a major superhero, some cure always shows up shortly after. Not even death lasts more than a few weeks. Hanako doesn't have that luxury!"

"Did I ever tell you about the time Kitty Pride was struck by an energy harpoon? The blast disrupted her molecular bonds and she began to discorpreate. Her molecules were drifting farther and farther apart and we were completely unable to find a solution. For the better part of three weeks we had to watch as the youngest and most innocent member of our team slowly died in front of us with absolutely nothing we could do .And while she was eventually resurrected, it didn't change how utterly devastated we were to lose her . So yes, I do understand what you're going through." Psylocke shook her head. "Go home Hisao. If I figure out a solution, you'll be the first to know."

Hisao stared at her for a long while, then walked out the door.

"Resources we don't?" He mumbled, "I suppose I could ask Kenji."

Twenty minutes later...

Hisao had arrived at a small brick house just south of the university and knocked on the door. There was the sound of something falling inside and someone let out a yelp of pain. Then the door opened and Kenji was there, holding a bump on his head.

"Ah, hey there Hisao. Good to see you. Yuuko and I were just analyzing the likely existence of feminist conspirators in HYDRA-" He began.

"Wait, what?" Hisao replied, "Yuuko's dead. How can she..?"

"She got resurrected. Rather a dangerous concept, as resurrection totally screw up the life-death balance, but it was beyond my control so oh well. Anyway, we've come to the conclusion HYDRA is thirty two percent infiltrated-"

"Yes, yes okay." Hisao said dismissively. "Look, I need your help." he gave a brief explanation of what was happening with Hanako, and Kenji thought for a moment.

"'Apocalypse in the brain, huh?That's a tough one." Kenji sighed and shook his head, "You wouldn't happen to have a cosmic cube, would you?"

"A what?" Hisao asked.

"Crystal clear cube, roughly six inches on a side, allows the wielder to make his thoughts reality and later evolves into a cosmic entity. That'd fix it up right fast." Kenji made a dramatic gesture with his hand.

Hisao chuckled "If I had one of those, wouldn't you think I'd have used it by now?"

Kenji nodded "Fair point. How about an infinity gem? There's six of them, so you're six time as likely to have one."

Hisao shook his head.

Kenji sighed "Then I'm afraid I'm not sure. Sorry."

Hisao nodded sadly, "All right then."

Kenj shrugged, "Would you like to come in and help with the planning? We could use someone with your brainpower."

Hisao shook his head again,"No, I need to get back to campus. There's another lead I might be able to try."

Thirty minutes later...

"You're serious?" Trevor asked.

"I'm afraid so." Hisao replied.

"Well god damn it. This was the last thing we needed." Trevor shook his head.

"Do you have any idea on how to help her?"

"No, I'm sorry." Trevor sighed.

"But you're from the future." Hisao started.

"You mean 'A' future. There's a big difference. My homeworld didn't deal much with this kind of stuff. What with superhumans being interned in concentration camps for the better part of six decades and all."

"Can you open a portal to a world that would know how to help her?"

Trevor shook his head, "I'm afraid my power isn't that precise. I can't usually control where I'll end up unless it's to a location I've been near before. And I never really got to deep into the superhero career on any world aside from my first because I was afraid the Chronomancer would kill my friends. I hid out in civilian identities, so it's pretty unlikely anyone on the worlds I've lived on before would help us out. Not to mention many of them were rather nasty. Taken over by demons or overrun by vampires or whatever."

"There's got to be something you can do." Hisao stated.

"I'm thinking, okay?" Trevor ran his fingers through his thick green hair, "Do you know anyone else who might be able to help?"

Hisao shrugged, "I doubt it. Aside from my friends, who got powers just a couple months ago, there's you, this Magnus guy and...huh.." he furrowed his brow.

"You have an idea?" Trevor inquired

"Maybe," Hisao replied, seriously considering whether what he was considering was a good idea."Rin lately started meeting up with this cosmic entity called the Grandmaster. Considering how egotistical such beings tend to be, I doubt he'd be willing to help, but right now it looks like he's the only one who might know."

"A cosmic entity...dating an artist." Trevor stated clearly dumbfounded. "That is possibly the most absurd thing I have ever heard of."

Hisao shrugged. "This entire life is absurd. I mean, I just read some files on a villain made up out of"solid sound." Which, speaking as a science major, makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Sound is a series of waves through a medium, such as air. Trying to make it solid would be like trying to make a liquid out of someone's memories."

"That exists, you know." Trevor pointed out, "Draught of the Elders, if I recall the name correctly."

"Are you serious?" Hisao stated, somewhat dumbfounded.

Trevor nodded, "Quite. Wizards use it fairly often. My homeworld's magi corps in particular."

"Makes my brain hurt," Hisao shook his head, "None of this stuff...superheroes, mutants, godstones, whatever..none of it makes the slightest bit of sense."

Trevor shrugged, "It's the lifestyle we're in, whether we like it or not."

"Agreed," Hisao sighed, "Whether it was worth losing a normal life is debatable. As glad as I am that I don't have to worry about dying of a heart attack anymore, the fact remains I do not want to wear a costume and run around the world fighting supervillains at the first sign of trouble. What I wanted to do was become a teacher. Unfortunately it is looked more and more like I'm not going to have a choice in the matter." He ran his fingers through his hair in frustration.

Trevor nodded, "I understand, believe me. I wanted a normal life too...Well, as normal as you can get in a post-apocalyptic rundown hellhole of a planet. Instead, I wound up fleeing for my life for almost half a decade.

"Yeah, but you're a mutant, you're genetic code never gave a choise." Hisao pointed out, "If Hanako had never found that stone, the seven of us never would have had this nonsense forced upon us."

Trevor shrugged, "Look at it this way, this planet, unlike almost all the others I've been to, is in good hands. Many of the worlds I went to were really messed up. Overrun by vampires or ruled by sentinels or whatever."

"Yes, but this world isn't." Hisao sighed, "So why did I have to play the superpower lottery?"

Trevor shrugged again, "Look, the X-men, the Avengers, the Fanstastic Four...They're good people. And now that you have powers, you can get to know them. You can make the best friends possible in the superhero profession."

"I _made_ friends. Seven of them. And now one of them is in danger of losing her mind because of some madman's delusions of grandeur." Hisao gritted his teeth. "I swear to god, I am going to kill that bastard."

Trevor shook his head, "Stronger people than you have tried and failed. Look, let's focus on helping Hanako right now. That's the important part."

"Agreed." Hisao replied, "I suppose the first part would be locating Rin..."

Finding Rin, however, proved to be more difficult than he had expected. After spending a half hour checking her usual locations and dropping by her apartment, Hisao was unable to locate her.

"I really wish she could use a phone." he mumbled, walking down the south end of the campus, "Would make things much simpler. Now lets see... She's not at her apartment, or her classes, or the art building, so where could she be? If she showed up on Cerebro Betsy could locate her that way, but we're not mutants, just superhumans. Although..." An idea struck him. "With her unusual thought patters, maybe if I psionically scan the area, maybe I could pick her mind up. Worth a shot."

Sitting down under a tree, he focused inwards and let is consciousness expand. Making a brief check of each mind he could touch, he searched, picking up thoughts as he swept the area

"_What kind of supervillian uses a sword in this day and age, seriously?"_

"_I got beat in the track meet by a girl with no legs, can you believe that?"_

"_I don't understand how that guy has a skull for a head. I mean, where's his brain?" _

"Come on," Hisao mumbled, "Where are you?

"_I don't trust those X-folks. Especially that chick with blue hair. She scares me, to be honest, with how she never talks."_

"_I still cry at night from the shooting. My best friend Ember died at that man's hands. I wish she would come back."_

"_I don't understand how that blonde X-women fights in stiletto heels and lingerie. That sounds not only embarrassing but horrible painful. "_

Suddenly, a torrent of bright colors and images flooded Hisao's mind, nearly overwhelming him with their vividness and unusual shapes."There. Restaurant on fifth street." he said, then thought hard _"Rin, can you hear me?"_

There wasn't an answer.

"Oh, well. It's not too far." Hisao said, and began to hurry down to the cafe.

After a bit, he arrived. He was rather out of breath, but his heart was thankfully cooperating. "Good thing I'm doing those runs with Emi." he thought as he entered, "Otherwise I wouldn't be in nearly good enough shape to run that far.."

He looked around and quickly picked out his friend's figure, and across from her was a blue man.

"The brood are actually one of the more aberrant species to exist in the galaxy you know as M16" the Grandmaster was explaining, "A insectoid caste race with a communal hive mind, their means of reproduction is to inject humanoid captives with embryos, which transform the host into a brood over time."

"So, they're the xenomorphs from Aliens." Rin replied, "Oh, hello Hisao."

"Hey." Hisao replied, "Sorry to interrupt, but I need the Grandmaster's help. Hanako's in trouble. Big trouble." He gave a brief description of the problem. The Grandmaster raised an eyebrow.

"Why should I bother helping you?" he stated bluntly.

"Because Hanako's my friend." Hisao said firmly .

"So what? The girl's completely unimportant in the scheme of things." The Grandmaster's tone was as arrogent as always.

"She's important to me." Hisao said, anger creeping into his voice.

"And me," Rin added, "She's a good person."

"There are many 'good people.' out there." The Grandmaster replied, "Most of the time, they aren't."

"En." Rin stated flatly, "She matters to me. More than you do. So I'm going to put it this way. Either help her, or get out of my sight." her voice didn't change it's level tone at all, though Hisao knew her well enough to know that this time, she was serious.

The Grandmaster sat there for a moment with a neutral expression on his face. "I suppose I could take a look." he responded, then dropped a handful of gold coins onto the table.

"Good." Rin said. There was a pop, and the three suddenly appeared in Hanako's apartment. Hanako was on her bed with her head in her hands, breathing heavily.

"Hanako?" Hisao started, "I'm here with an expert. Don't worry, you'll be alright."

"I hope so." Hanako mumbled under her breath.

The Grandmaster walked over to her and place his hand on her forehead.

"Binatrual algorithms. Trans-eter mental corruption...this is Celestial non-vana grund influence." He stated firmly.

"What's that?" Hisao asked,

The Grandmaster heaved a sigh, "Let me dumb it down for your mediocre intellect. You are familiar with cancer, correct? This is a psychic equivalent of the disease. It starts at a miniscule level, but the inserted thoughts reproduce over and over again until they overwrite the person's brain."

"How do we stop it?"

"You need a life seed. They are a triangular device, roughly six inches in length with horizontal stripes. The Celestials create one ever few hundred years."

"Where can we find one?" Hisao asked

The Grandmaster paused, "I would recommend you search heavily metahuman linked areas. Any place out of the ordinary. Now if you'll excuse me..." There was a shimmer of light and the Grandmaster disappeared.

"What an ass." Hisao stated once the figure left.

"He can change." Rin replied

"Are you kidding me?" Hisao said in disbelieve "He's a cosmic entity. They view humanity as entertainment at best and food at worst. He's as bad as Galactus in his own way. Worse, at least Galactus has some sort of understanding about Earth after Mr Fantastic saved his life. Grandmaster just likes to yank peoples chains around."

"Don't be so judgmental." Rin shrugged "He's lived ten billion years. If you lived that long, you'd probably be just as arrogant."

Hisao rolled his eyes,"Arrogance I can handle, but the fact is he's continually kidnapped metahumans and forced them to battle each other in human gladiatorial combats. That's evil."

"He can change, Hisao." Rin said somewhat softly, "He just need a human perspective. Like when you're sitting in the bath and put your head under the water so that your ears pop, then wait a while and lift them out again. He's been godly for so long he forgot how to be human. He can re-learn."

Hisao rolled his eyes, "What do you see in him, anyway?"

Rin shrugged, "He understands me. My mind."

"And that excuses the fact that he's caused no end of trouble for..."

"Hisao..." Hanako spoke weakly all of sudden. "Do you know where one of those life seeds can be found?"

Hisao paused, "Not off the top of my head, but I'm not the expert on that stuff. But I'm sure we'll be able to find one for you. And one for Angel too."

"I just...I can hear her. Famine...she's horrible. She's telling me to hurt you. Right now."

Hisao put his arm around her, "I'm certain you'll be able to resist that."

"Yes, but for how long? It sounds like this will get worse and worse until I can't take it anymore and lose myself completely." Hanako shuddered.

"I'm going to go to the X-corp right now. We'll get right on this. Rin, you want to come? I know you haven't been training, but maybe we could convince-" Hisao was interrupted by Hanako.

"Actually." she said, her voice dropping to a whisper. 'I need Rin to stay here in Tokyo."

"For emotional support?" Hisao assumed,

Hanako shook her head. "No, because... because... because she's the only person who can kill me if I lose my mind."

Rin winced, but nodded sadly.

Hisao's mouth dropped open in shock, "Hanako, what are you _talking_ about? Nobody's going to kill you."

"Hisao... I'd rather die than hurt the people I care about. You know that. And I nearly killed you anyway." Tears formed in Hanako's eyes. "I don't want to die, but if it gets to the point where it's either me or other people... You know what decision I would make. If I did hurt someone I love, even if I regained my mind later... I'd break. I nearly shattered the last time. I can't...I can't go through all that again. If I go mad...I'd need someone to put me down. And Rin's the only one with the power to do it. Lilly's power is still untapped, Emi's ability has no combat applications, and Trevor requires skin contact, which would be difficult with my force fields."

"Hanako, I'm not going to let Rin kill you. That's never a solution. Ever."

"Hisao," Rin spoke up, "You don't understand what she's going through. This is her call."

"It's suicide." Hisao stated, "I'm not going to permit it."

"You can certainly be hardheaded when you're upset, can't you?" Rin said plainly, "Even with my misspelled mind, I can tell how determined she is to remain in control, and how desperate she is to not hurt anyone. Can't you? You're the telepath, after all." She shrugged for emphasis "Look in her mind."

Hisao sighed and reached into Hanako's mind. As he did so, a hoard of intense emotions nearly overwhelmed him. Hatred towards Apocalypse, love towards Lilly and Trevor and himself, and the strongest... sorrow at what she felt might become necessary...Hanako didn't want to die. She wanted to live. That much was certain. But more than that, she cared about people. And she was willing to do whatever it took to make sure she would never endanger her friends again. Regardless of personal cost.

Hisao exited the library and turned to Rin, shaking his head violently. "She is NOT going to die. I will not allow it. I am going to tell you what is going to happen. I am going to go straight to Betsy and the others, we are going to get on that plane, and we are going to find the damn cure! There will be no killing! Got it?

Rin nodded, then she blinked, "Do you want to go back to the X-men?"

"Yes. That would be good." Hisao agreed.

There was a "pop" and Rin and Hisao appeared outside the X-corps HQ.

Rin leaned her head on Hisao's shoulders,"I believe in you, Hisao," she said, then straightened back up. "You're a good person. One of the best. If anyone can save her, you will." Another pop, and Rin vanished.


	5. 4: Introducing mentat

"A...life seed." Psylocke said, fiddling with a dial on the med-scanner. Angel with still there, unconscious, and Hisao was thinking Betsy was keeping him sedated, which in turn made him wonder if the disease was progressing faster than he had originally thought.

"That's what the Grandmaster called it." Hisao replied.

"I hardly would count him as trustworthy source. That man had wheels within wheels. Everything he does is in the pursuit of some goal."

Hisao glared at Psylocke, "Do you have any better ideas?"

Psylocke shook her head, "No, I don't. Short of a miracle. Now where could these seeds be located..." she thought for a moment. "Celestial origin, you said? Hmm..."

Hisao regarded Psylocke for a moment. Truth was, she reminded him a little of Lilly. Yes, Lilly was an Asian girl who looked Scottish while Psylocke was a British woman in an Japanese body, but they were quite similar in many other respects. Both were well-bred, both kept their cool in all but the worst situations, and both were extremely striking looking. Lilly with her bright blonde locks, and Betsy with her neon purple hair. Every time Hisao spoke to her, his mind kept wandering to his girlfriend, and he couldn't help but wonder if, had Lilly gained powers long ago, she might have wound up in same manner as his telepathic mentor. Psylocke had done some nasty things in her career with the X-men, and had some of the fewest moral concerns about so-called "grey" areas. She had killed dozens in her time as a superhero, and while the victims had deserved it, he could help but wonder if, should he and his friends continue this past, they might be forced into making decisions they would rather avoid experiencing.

"He said it could be found in 'metahuman linked areas'." He said, picking up a widget on the scanner and looking it over, before putting it down again, "Do you know what that means?"

"It means he doesn't know where to find one either." Psylocke shrugged, "Though I can guess a few possible locations." She reached over to a button on a nearby desk and spoke into a speaker. "X-23, Armor, Voidstar, Hardhead. Assemble in the briefing room, we have a mission."

"Logan's not here?" Hisao asked.

Psylocke shook her head, "Right now he's off with Captain America and Iron Man on some thing with the Kree in the large magellanic cloud. That man's on two teams of X-men, plus the Avengers, plus he runs this branch of X-corp. Sometimes I think he's trying to work himself to death with all the irons he has in the fire. Usually, he can make it work but this time we're going without him. Thanks for the info, we'll let you know what we find."

"I'm coming with you." Hisao stated bluntly.

Psylocke shook her head, "Hisao, first of all, your arrhythmia is liable to cause you collapse in the middle of a firefight. Second, you have minimal combat experience. Third, your powers are the same as mine, but at a much lower level, so your usefulness is extremely questionable. It's better if you leave this to us."

"Like HELL." Hisao snapped, "First of all, I may not have that much combat experience, but since I heal from almost anything I won't need it. Second, maybe my powers are redundant, but so were X-23 and Wolverine. Both have claws and healing factors and little else. As for my arrhythmia..." he paused and tried to compose himself, but it didn't work. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Iron Man's heart constantly in danger of stopping for the first three years of his career? And he couldn't heal. If he can defend the people he cares about, so can I."

"You yourself told me you didn't want a combat role-" Betsy began, but Hisao cut her off.

"And I told you shortly after that there are people I'd die for." he said, slightly annoyed. "I'm not going to sit back while the five of you juggle my best friend's life out there. You told me you knew what it's like to be helpless, so put yourself in my shoes. If a chance had come up to save Kitty's life, but the others didn't want you to come along, how would you feel?"

Betsy sighed and shook her head. "This is really against my better judgment..." She walked out of the med bay and over to a nearby closet. Taking out a thick black shirt with the X-men logo and green highlights as well as black pants and shoes, she tossed the clothes to Hisao.

"Is this spandex?" Hisao asked

"No, its a high-tech nanotube array that acts as body armor. You'll need it. Go put it on and figure out a codename. I'll go brief the others." She gave a slightly amused smile and walked off. Hisao blinked and gave a grim smile, then walked into the restroom.

Kicking off his shoes and throwing off his shirt and pants, he took a deep breath.

"Time for a lifestyle change." his stated, then slipped the new pants on, followed by the shirt. Shoving his feet into the boots, he paused and glanced in the mirror. "I look absolutely ridiculous. Half secret agent half businessman. I wonder how many x-men deaths are from embarrassment."

He then took a deep breath."Codename? That's actually an easy one. I'm a Dune fan after all." He then pulled out his phone and dialed a number.

The phone rang twice and then a voice came on the other end.

"Hey there Lilly," Hisao started.

"Oh, hello there Hisao," Lilly said.

"Good news,"Hisao replied, "I found a possible way to save Hanako."

"Really?" Lilly said, excitement creeping into her voice, "How?"

"Life seeds. They're some alien artifact. I'm not sure where it's going to be located, but the X-men and I are going to go on a hunt for them." He deliberately avoided mentioning the outfit.

"I have every faith you'll find them." Lilly replied, "But hurry, Hanako seems to be quite... distraught."

"Yeah...I know." Hisao answered, "I visited her earlier... Um..." he paused for a moment, "Would you like to come along? I don't know if Betsy will go for it, but I could ask."

"I think both of us leaving Hanako by herself would be a very bad idea." Lilly replied, "I'm going to stay here and try to support her."

"Fair enough," Hisao stated, "I'll try to be back as soon as I can."

"Please do. I love you darling." Lilly said.

"Love ya too." Hisao replied, "See you soon."

"Goodbye, Hisao."

"Goodbye, Lilly."

Hisao hung up his phone and walked out,. "Okay briefing room. Now where might that be..."

Fifteen minutes later...

"Still working on likely locations for the seeds." Psylocke was explaining to the other four, "But several location seem to be good starting points. I thankfully am in possession of technology that can detect Celestial artifacts once we're nearby-"

"Hicchan? You look awesome!" Misha spoke as Hisao walked into the room.

"Mentat, actually." he replied and blinked. "Shizune, you look like Trinity from-"

"_I'm aware."_ her thoughts appeared in his head. Hisao was a tad taken aback at how...girly her mental voice sounded. It was the first time she had ever 'spoke' in his head, so he wasn't sure what to expect, but it wasn't congruent at all with her personality. _"Mental projection."_ her mind continued, _"Psylocke taught me how to do it, to shout my thoughts so local telepaths can pick them up. And yes, I know I 'sound' weird. Being deaf since I was six messed up the way I would think my voice would appear."_

"Anyway," Psylocke stated, "I'm going to send out a bulletin to the other heroes to look out for these seeds. This first place we're heading is Chaparanga."

"What's that?" Misha asked.

"It's where spaceships go to die." Psylocke responded. "Spaceships fall all over the planet nowadays, and many times they are dumped in Chaparanga. Often with parts still intact. It's a likely place to look for alien tech, despite being completely lawless and containing more carcinogens than a case of Marlboro cigarettes. Now let's hurry, the longer we wait, the bigger danger there is of something...unfortunate happening."

As the six X-men walked down to the hanger, Misha spoke up.

"You know, I've never been to a foreign country before. This should be fun." She grinned.

[_Are you joking me?_] Hisao heard Shizune's thoughts come out at the same time she signed to Misha. [_Half the populous of Chaparanga subsists on less than a hundred sixty yen a day, the starvation rate is through the roof, and the government is essentially an anarchy. Nobody would go there unless they have a mission or have no other choice. It's the fifth most dangerous place on the planet._]

Misha didn't seem perturbed in the least. "Fifth most, huh? What are the other four?"

_[Madripoor, the Savage Land, the ruins of Genosha, and New York City. The Big Apple is by far the worst._]

"How did you know all this anyway? This place wasn't on any of the files I looked over"

[_Considering how few you actually read, that's not surprising. But to answer your question, these glasses don't just print out what people say, they actually have a cybernetic interface that lets me look up all sorts of information. Very useful._]

"Seriously? That's so cool! I want a pair."

"Maybe later," Psylocke replied, "They're quite difficult to make."

"So, Misha..." Hisao started, "How exactly do you fight? I mean, you're indestructible, but that leaves out any offensive ability."

"Well, for one thing I've been learning kung fu." Misha grinned, "For another..." she reached into a pocket on the side of her suit and brought out a sleek looking black pistol with an unusually long barrel and a dial on the side."They called it a miniaturized...what was the term?"

_[Railgun._] Shizune stated [_Honestly Misha... Look, short version is that it packs a wallop on the lower settings and on the higher settings can bring down the side of a building._] She stopped signing for a moment and thought to Hisao _"Frankly I think giving that kind of firepower to Misha is begging for disaster, but it wasn't my call. At least they made it so that it automatically resets back to the "off" position after each use so that she doesn't accidentally blow a hole in the floor._"

"A railgun?" Hisao stated, having a hard time believing it, "But the power supply on those things tends to be around a million amps! How the heck did they fit that kind of capacitor into a thirty-centimeter long pistol? Not to mention the wear and tear caused by the heat flow..."

"Forge makes amazing weapons." Armor replied plainly.

"While we're on the subject of technology that makes no sense." Hisao continued, "I want to know how those spaceships work. By all rights, faster than light travel should be impossible!"

"There are multiple ways to exceed light speed." Psylocke said as the six climbed into the blackbird. "The most common methods is using what's essentially the warp core from Star Trek. By 'stretching' space, you can compress a multi-light year journey into a span of several days. For long distances, such as between galaxies, it's common to use a so called "stargate" where a hole is torn in space between two points."

"A hole in..." Hisao shook his head, "That makes no sense either! Puncturing space time like that would form a singularity, not a portal."

Psylock sat down in the pilot's seat and X-23 took the copilots. The remaining four sat in several of the remaining seats. "You can bring up the schematics of some sample spaceships on that console if you'd like." she motioned to a computer screen on the side of the jet. "I'm warning you though, it's complicated. Very complicated."

"I will take that as a challenge." Hisao replied and began tapping on the attached keyboard. Bringing up details on the Starjammer, he began to read.


	6. 5: Chaparanga

Chapter 5. Chaparanga

"How's it going Mentat?" Armor asked after a few hours.

Hisao blinked, not used to being called by that name. "I am seriously thinking about abandoning my idea of being a science teacher." He shook his head, "I mean, this stuff violates so many laws of physics its not even funny, and while it's consistent in the way it does so, much as I hate to say it, it makes me question everything we're teaching in school."

Armor blinked, "What are you talking about?"

Hisao motioned to the console, "Take this Kree vessel, for instance. By all rights it should produce enough heat to melt the hull. So how do they fix that? By opening a portal to a side dimension and sending the heat in there, somehow violating the first law of thermodynamics in the process if these reading are any indication. And this Shi'ar vessel seems to have a perpetual motion machine as a fuel source, which blatantly violates the second law."

"So, they don't follow the usual laws of physics, so what?" Armor asked

Hisao sighed "Laws of science are supposed to be just that. Laws. Unchanging, immutable, constant. But these...They aren't. And look at this schematic for the Universal Church of Truth, who seems to be powering their ships using people's faith. I'm still trying to wrap my mind how that works. And the Badoon seem to be using a bottled singularity as a fuel source, which is possibly the worst idea I have ever heard of.

"Why? It's a fuel source. Like coal, or gas or nuclear energy."

"Because even if you take Hawkings radiation taken into account, a leak in that kind of system would result in the loss of the ship as well as anything nearby. And I'm talking on a planetary scale." He shook his head. "I'm tempted to make a drinking game based off this. Take a drink every time a law of physics is broken or something makes no sense. Course, I'd be wasted in minutes if I did that." He looked over at Shizune and Misha, who were signing to each other in their seats. "How do those two deal with this absurdity? I mean, seriously."

Misha perked up at the mention of her name "I didn't understand half of what you said there."

Hisao nodded briefly and opened his mouth to speak, but the pink-haired girl continued, "So, Mentat huh? Not really sure why you picked that. I think "Headblast" would be better, or maybe "Psi-Lord"

Hisao shook his head, "It's a reference to a book"

"Ah, is it a good book?" Misha asked.

Hisao nodded, "Seven hundred pages of excellent writing"

"Seven hun-" Misha began, but shook her head, "Never mind!"

"It sound like you understand this science stuff at least." Armor added.

"Sort of. Parts of it make no sense, but it's consistent in the way it makes no sense." he sighed, "That's the best I can explain it. Considering the major problems with a Alcubierre drive, I'm impressed anyone actually got it working."

"Alcubierre drive?" Armor asked

"It's a similar concept to how these work. Causes space behind a ship to expand and ahead of it to contract, theoretically allowing faster than light travel. But there are huge issues with the concept. The first is that it would require exotic matter with a negative energy density, which, at least from what I believed up till today, was impossible. The second is that the projected energy requirements would be greater than the known mass of the universe. Third is the fact that you wouldn't be able to send signals to the front of the 'bubble' the ship flies in, making steering impossible. And let's not forget the fact that high temperatures caused by Hawkings radiation would destroy anything inside the bubble if you took it to superluminal velocities. And yet the people who built these ships seem to have fixed that." He ran his fingers though his hair.

Armor nodded, "You're real smart, aren't you? I looked at those files once and couldn't understand them at all. X-23 couldn't either. I don't think even Psylocke could."

Hisao shrugged, "I like science. And yeah, I'm fairly intelligent. Though I'm having a heck of a time with this. I still can't figure out how you could have "solid sound" either. I mean..." he sighed. "I wish someone with a bigger brain than mine could explain this to me. Anyway, on a completely different subject, what are your powers? I'm guessing they're defensive based on your codename."

Armor nodded, "Mostly. I form psionic armor from the memories of my ancestors. It grants me superhuman strength and virtual invulnerability."

"Armor...from memories.." Hisao sighed, "I suppose that's not the craziest thing I've heard of. Not even the craziest thing in the last three hours. Do you ever wonder how the X-gene actually works? I mean, it doesn't obey the normal laws of genetics, with it manifested in thousands of different ways, unlike a normal gene the manifests in just a few. And considering how many laws of physics and nature and logic it seems to break..."

"Logic? What do you mean?"

"Well... let's take my healing factor as an example. With healing factors, you'd need superhuman pain tolerance to get the most out of them, otherwise you'd wind up falling unconscious in the middle of battle from the agony. I have specifically noticed that the last few times my heart has acted up, it has hurt far less than the first two times I had my heart attacks."

"So you got pain resistance as a bonus, why's that illogical?"

"Well, maybe illogical is not the best term for that aspect, but take the energy requirements. Regrowing a hand or whatever would take a huge amount of calories to fuel the process, plus you're creating mass out of nothing, which shouldn't be possible. And then there's the infection problem. Bleeding out all over the floor would leave someone wide open to all sorts of nasty pathogens the exist in the atmosphere. There's reasons hospitals are sterile, after all. Yet healers never seem to have that problem. And normally you'd think a healer breaking a bone would cause the bone to immediately heal in the broken position without any time to reset, but it doesn't work that way either. And that's just for healing factors. Tons of superpowers have that sort of problem. If you take, say, super speed-"

"I get the picture. Superheroes are impossible but exist anyway."

"Exactly my point." Hisao replied.

"We've arrived." Psylocke stated. Picking a sort of handheld scanning device off the dashboard, she looked at it. "It appears there is one likely source of Celestial technology nearby."

The plane landed on a stretch of beach, and as Hisao followed the other out, he noticed they had landing right next to a green and grey starship of substantial size.

"This is a Kree design, right?" Hisao stated.

"Very good." Psylocke responded, "Yes, a Kree galactic level transport. This model is usually used for moving prisoners. Now, there is a significant chance that there might be dangerous aliens aboard, so be careful. That means you, Hardhead."

Misha grinned. The six approached a large door and Psylocke looked at the control panel. "Circuits are fried. Armor, make a hole."

The girl known as Hisako nodded and her body formed a psionic exoskeleton made of pink energy. After a few punches, the door broke and the six went inside.

It was dark. Very dark. Shizune ignited her right hand and Hisao blinked as the room was somewhat illuminated. Grey steel walls and floors with similarly colored doors spaced every few yards.

"I take it the Kree aren't much on interior décor." Hisao remarked.

_[Not at all]_ Shizune thought as she signed [_They are an extremely military society. Very little culture. Now, the worlds they conquered are a different story. If you look at say, the Clanarians_...]

"Conquered worlds, huh?"

_[Yes, at least, ostensibly. However, after loosing ninty eight percent of their population to a Nega-bomb, as well as fight three wars against other major empires...] _Shizune shrugged [_They're stretched to the breaking point. So are the Skrulls and Shi'ar in fact, recent cosmic events have caused some major changes in the landscape. It wouldn't surprise me if one or more of the major empires collapsed in the next few years.]_

"I'm sorry I asked." Hisao mumbled and shook his head.'

"This way." Psylocke stated and headed walked down a hall.

Heading down the passageway, Hisao couldn't help but be a tad unnerved by the darkness and near total silence in the ship. It was creepy and reminded him of those horror movies where the protagonist is being stalked by some horrible monster just beyond their field of vision. He half expected a demon, or alien, or something else, to jump out at him any moment.

"Right behind here." Psylocke said, as the came to a door that appeared to be made out of titanium. Hisao noticed something odd.

"Psylocke, this door has a keyhole." he said, pointing to the hole on the door, "Why would the Kree make a door with a manual lock instead of electrical like the other doors on this ship?"

Betsy paused, "Perhaps something behind it could override a automatic lock? Not sure. X-23, I take you can open it?"

"Indeed" The girl with the claws stated and pulled a ring of small metal tools out of her pocket. Inserting the bent end of one into the hole, she began fiddling around. There was a sharp "click" and the door cracked open to reveal a plain white room. Then something moved in a corner. Shizune quickly focused her lighting on the movement, and it showed a white, clearly artificial, humanoid figure floating towards them. It's head seemed to be encased in a sort of transparent helmet, and its torso, rather than having feet, terminated a foot above the ground in a cylindrical tube.

"Greetings." The android said, "I am Unit. Thank you for releasing me."

"Are you from the Celestials?" Psylocke asked, sounding somewhat puzzled "You don't look like they're usual creations."

"Very astute of you. No, that was simply a convenient deception. I was created by the Avenarals to further the goal of universal utopia."

The X-men exchanged worried glances. A look of fear spread across Armor's face

"Now," Unit continued, "It would be remiss of me to allow your world to discover my return early." He looked straight at Psylocke, and intoned in a slightly different voice "Kindly slay your companions for me."

Psylocke stiffened and lunged at Armor, her psychic katana forming in her hand. Hisako jumped back, dodging Betsy's attack. Betsy attacked again, but Armor twisted out of the way

"Mind control," Hisao thought. "God damnit, not again."

Misha pulled out her gun and fired at the Android, at the same time X-23 unsheathed her claws and lunged at the figure. The bullet hit Unit with the force of a freight train, and the robot was knocked back quite a bit.

"How rude." Unit stated and stared at X-23, "Kill the pink haired one." he stated in the same tone of voice. X-23 leapt back and attempted to stab Misha in the gut, but her invulnerability prevented any damage. She grabbed X-23's arm, only for X-23 to kick her in the stomach.

"Now you..." Unit said, turning to Shizune, "Kill him." He pointed to Hisao. Hisao braced himself, Only for Shizune to emit a massive blast of energy at Unit. She then flipped the bird at the robot and fired again.

The android looked at her, "I said, attack the male of your species."

Shizune fired another round at the Android.

"Unusual," Unit stated, "You seem to be immune. No matter." A laser emitted from his head and struck Shizune in the chest. She winced in pain but quickly recovered and fired again

"Shizune's immune.." Hisao thought, " But that makes no sense, why would she be unaffected when Betsy has psychic shields of twice the strength?"

Shizune launched energy blast after energy blast at Unit, cracks showing in the robot's armor as she took several lasers beams in response.

Hisao glanced back at the other four, X-23 had Misha pinned to the ground and was fervently attempted to stab her, while Misha was trying to wriggle out of the grip. Psylocke still fighting against a surprisingly agile Armor, who was dodging the psionic blade, but being unable to make any attacks of her own.

Come on," Hisao racked his brain for answers, "There's got to be a reason Shizune was immune...Oh...OH!" He reached into his own brain and telepathically disrupted his auditory channel. The sounds of battle stopped. He then reached into the other X-men's minds, and did the same thing. Psylocke snapped and turned to him, and X-23 jumped up from her futile attempts to hurt Misha.

"Mentat," Psylocke thought at him, "What did you do?"

"Near as I can tell, Unit's using subliminals. If we can't hear his words, he can't affect us." Hisao mentally replied. "Don't worry, it's only temporary.."

Unit looked up from trading energy blasts with Shizune and glowered at the other five X-men approaching. He said something, but was quickly assaulted by a barrage of energy blasts, psychic blades, accelerated projectiles, and adamantium claws. After about ten minutes of intense battle, Unit's frustratingly sturdy form finally snapped into several large pieces under the sheer number of attacks..

Hisao reached out and undid the mental disruption. "So, now what?"

"Now I make a phone call." Psylocke replied. "Gather the remains and take them outside. And make sure none of them touch. With technology like this, it tends to reform if you let it."

"_I must say, I'm impressed."_ Shizune thought to Hisao, as she picked up the head "_That was some pretty quick thinking on your part."_

Hisao shrugged, "I suppose...It was a pretty disorienting experience, not being able to hear... Is it like that for you?"

"_The first year or so, yes. After that I got used to it. I will confess I never thought it'd wind up providing an advantage_." She grinned, _"Learn something new every day."_

"So, who were the Avenarals?" Misha asked, carrying half of Unit's torso

_[No idea]_ Shizune responded with her one free hand as well as mentally. _[There were no files on any race by that name.]_

"That's because they're all dead." Armor replied. "According to the Shi'ar, the Grandmaster killed them after they "pacified" his homeworld."

Hisao flinched. "I knew the Grandmaster was a bad guy, but I didn't expect that he would commit genocide."

Armor shrugged, "You know cosmic entities, always thinking they're above good and evil. Course, considering how many races the Avenarals wiped out..." She shrugged, "Not that huge a deal."

"Are you kidding me? Judging an entire race by what some of the members did-"

"They were a collective mind society, they only had one consciousness." Armor replied.

"And it's not like our hands are free of blood either." X-23 replied, hauling Unit's other piece behind her, "When things have gotten really dire, the X-men have killed planets before."

Hisao stopped in his tracks, "What."

"It's not done often or with any pleasure," Shizune responded, "And only on the most despicable of races, but yes, the X-men on occasion have committed genocide. The brood are probably the most notable, they are a race of psychopathic monsters who enjoy devouring the souls of their victims, and at one point the X-men blew up their homeworld."

"I...That's horrid!"

"If you knew what the brood were like, you'd change your mind pretty fast." X-23 replied, "Look them up on our files when we get back."

"Believe me, I will." Hisao shook his head as the X-men walked outside. In front of the spaceship they were in was parked a second spaceship, this one much smaller, bearing a resemblance to an SUV with rockets on the back. A door on the smaller one opened and a green haired woman in a green and black catsuit walked out.

She looked at the six X-men and nodded grimly. "Name's Abigail Brand. Wish I had met you all under better circumstances."

"How are these bad circumstances?" Hisao asked, "Unit's dead."

Brand shook her head, "It won't last. If this tech is what I think it is, and I'm pretty sure it is, decommissioning him is temporary at best. Making a prison for this...thing, is going to be difficult."

"Maybe SHIELD could dump it in a black hole or something then."

_[Not SHIELD. SWORD.] _Shizune signed and thought at the same time _[Sentient World Observation and Response Department. They handle extraterrestrial issues. Brand's their commander.]_

"Smart one, aren't you?" Brand chuckled, "But yes. Anyway, thank you for bringing this to my attention. We have been looking for Unit for around two years now."

"You were looking for him?" X-23 asked.

"Yes." Brand shook her head, "We actually had him in custody up until recently,but he escaped."

She opened the "trunk" of the spaceship and put the larger piece of Unit's torso inside before closing it, then opened the back door and put the other piece in there. Picking up the head she said, "I'll keep in touch."

"Before you go," Hisao stated, "Do you have any ideas on where we can located a life seed?"

Brand shrugged, "Sorry, no. But I'll keep an eye out for any reports."

Thousands of miles away...

"_Kill that one. I mean, who wears sweats to school anyway?"_

"Shut up." Hanako snapped.

_"Or that one. Doesn't her voice make you hate her?"_

"I said, shut up."

"_Or how about him? You could pulp his head like a grape, you know."_

"I SAID SHUT UP! GET OUT OF MY HEAD!."

A burst of force blasted out of Hanako's hand and left a nasty gash in a nearby tree. The voice recoiled and Hanako felt it retreat into her mind. Ignoring the strange looks from people around her, she looked over to the nearby running track.

There. There she was. Short, light brown twintails, dual artificial legs... Easy to spot.

"Emi! Emi!" Hanako called out and dashed over to the track.

Emi stopped running for a moment and looked at Hanako. "Hey there, what's up?"

"Emi..." Hanako took some deep breaths. "I need to know something...You can raise the dead, right?"

Emi glanced around her, fortunately most everyone was a fair distance away. "Just so you know, its probably better to talk about that in private. But under some very rare, very specific circumstances, yes."

Hanako swallowed, "I need to know something they mights have told you about heaven...If I were to lose my mind and kill someone...would I be allowed in?"

Emi gave Hanako a funny look, "Hanako, what are you talking about? I thought you recovered from the mind control."

Hanako shook her head, "Apocalypse did something to me. When I was kidnapped. They put thoughts in my head.

"Like mind control?" Emi asked

"More like some kind of sickness" Hanako responded "From what I've been told, if the X-men aren't able to find a cure... My mind will be destroyed and I'll turn back into that...thing that nearly killed Hisao."

A look of horror crossed Emi's face.

"I've asked Rin to...put me down... if it comes down to it." Hanako said sadly, "But I don't know if she can do it before someone gets hurt."

"Hanako, have you lost your mind? Getting someone to kill you is NEVER the answer!." Emi said angrily .

Hanako shook her head, "If I lose myself, it wouldn't be me anymore. And I doubt I could ever be me again."

Emi looked at Hanako sadly, "You're selfless to a fault, you know that?" she then sighed, "Yeah. You'd be allowed in. I know that much. But killing yourself is a terrible idea. People care about you, Hanako."

"I know. Believe me, I know. But so do the people I would hurt." Hanako shook her head, "If I have to die... I'd rather go out without hurting anyone."

Emi sighed. "I can't stop you, much as I wish I could. But I'll tell you this. If you can 'stick around' in this dimension after dying, do so. If it works right, I might be able to bring you back."

A faint smile flickered on Hanako's face, "I'll try. I really will."

Several hundred yards away, Rin and the Grandmaster watched from a distance.

"You're sure you can't help her?" Rin asked.

"Non Vana Grund influence is impossible to remove without a Celestial oscillator such as the seed." Grandmaster replied, "Why do you care so much for her anyway?"

"She's a friend. Don't you know what that's like?" Rin shrugged. "Isn't there anyone you care about?"

The Grandmaster didn't respond.

Rin shook her head sadly, "She saved my life you know. While back. Gave me hope when I was about to give up... If it hadn't been for her I would have killed myself."

The Grandmaster raised an eyebrow. "That seemed like a flagrant waste. Why would you ponder such a thing?"

"I was alone." Rin replied, "I had been alone for so long, and it seemed like it would never end. It's like driving down a tunnel where the street is one-way and it goes for mile after mile after mile...Do you know what that's like?"

The Grandmaster paused for a moment, "Yes. I do."

"Then maybe you can understand how much she matters to me." Rin looked down at her feet, "It wasn't until I saw how much she had changed that I realized that maybe I could change to. It was like the tunnel finally ended and I saw the sky again..." a tear trickled down Rin's face. "I don't want for her to die. I really don't. But for her to shatter again... That would be even worse. So I'll do as she asks... Much as I would wish otherwise."

The was a paused and then Rin spoke again.

"En, can you see the future?"

The Grandmaster nodded, "I see the probability of things occurring."

"Can you tell me...Will Hanako be alright?"

"That is not a straight yes or no answer. There are many ways things could transpire from this point. But I can tell you that Hisao's actions will be the deciding factor."

Rin nodded and stared at the distant figures across the field.


	7. 6: Omega

Chapter six. Omega

"So, where are we heading next?" Hisao asked as the team climbed into the blackbird.

"Genosha." Psylocke responded, turning the plane on and preparing for takeoff.

Hisao blinked, "Really?"

"Before the sentinels destroyed the country, it had one of the highest tech levels of any nation. It would not surprise me if seeds could be located in the ruins."

The plane tore off into the sky. Hisao nodded. "Sixteen million died in that attack, right?"

Psylocke nodded back "Give or take a few hundred thousand yes. So we're going to need to be careful. The ten thousand or so that survived are some of the deadliest mutants on the planet."

Hisao nodded and began pushing buttons on a nearby console. A few minutes later, he spoke up.

"This is interesting." he said.

"What is?" Armor asked

"Some of these weapons designs." He motioned to a picture of a AIM energy blaster. "Normally directed energy weapons have major problems. Power consumption in particular, as normally powering this kind of laser would take unfeasibly large amount of watts. They seem to have solved this however with some kind of semiconductor. Very interesting." He scratched his chin. "Do you know if the vanadium-gallium alloy they used is double layered?"

"No idea," Psylocke stated, "Technical stuff is not our strong point."

Hisao nodded and continued browsing through the schematics.

"This... Actually looks fairly promising." he remarked. "Casing, energy direction mechanism, trigger, multi-gigawatt power source...Hmmm,.. Not too difficult to understand..."

Psylocke glanced over at X-23 "Reminds me bit of Hank McCoy." she stated. X-23 chuckled.

The aircraft tore through the sky. Less than an hour later, an island appeared on the horizon. And as they approached, Hisao winced. From what he saw, it reminded him nothing more than the old photos of Hiroshima that had been taken after the nuclear blast. Numerous buildings were piled on their side, or missing huge chunks of masonry. Even more disturbing was that as far as he could tell, the area they were traveling above was almost devoid of greenery. Normally, when humans have abandoned an area, nature tends to reclaim its own. In this case, it hadn't.

Psylock picked up the scanner. "Reading one signature, just a little ways away."

She landing the blackbird next to a large building and the six climbed out of the plane. Hisao looked at the building. It was roughly forty feet above the ground and he guessed it had originally been an office building, but was jutting out at an angle from the dirt it was implanted in.

"It looks... unstable." Hisao remarked.

"Don't worry about it." Psylocke remarked, "You heal, remember?"

"Yes, but you don't."

"Calculated risk." She stated matter-of-factly.

She walked inside. The other five followed. As the entered the building, Misha looked up.

"Pretty big gaps in the ceiling." she remarked. Indeed, there were. Numerous holes loomed above them, opening into a dark floor above. Several were large enough to fit a person through.

Looking around, Hisao noticed that the building had large amounts of laboratory equipment lying around. Beakers, test tubes, computers, centrifuges...

"I think I've been here before." X-23 suddenly spoke up.

"Really?" Hisao asked.

"Well, not to this particular location, but a place very much like this." She pointed to a sign on the wall. In the dim light, Hisao could just make out the words "Facility branch #24."

"I don't know how you can tell-" He begin, but Laura continued

"When dealing with me, the term "facility" has a very specific meaning. They were the ones who cloned me, after all."

Hisao blinked, "Wait, you're a clone?"

"Well, of a sort. The short version is that the facility had some of Wolverine's DNA and wanted to create they're own "pet" version of him, but the sample was damaged, so they look the X chromosome and duplicated it. Hence why I'm female."

Hisao opened his mouth, then closed it again. Then he scratched his head.

"But that's..." he begin, then shook his head, "I suppose I should quit describing things as "impossible", but that has so many freaking problems with it."

"What do you mean?" Misha asked.

Hisao took a deep breath. "Well, that would mean you have uniparental disomy for your maternal X chromosome-"

"_Hisao,"_ Shizune thought to him, "_Quit trying to apply science to superheroes. You'll drive yourself nuts trying to figure out how this stuff works."_

"Well, it's not impossible they lied to me," X-23 responded, "They certainly did everything else." She shrugged and started walking down the hall.

"Everything else?" Misha asked.

Laura shrugged, "Brainwashing, torture, abuse, the usual. Don't worry about it."

"You consider brainwashing and torture "the usual"?" Misha asked, somewhat disbelieving

X-23 nodded "Pretty much." she replied.

Hisao shook his head, wondering once more how screwed up the superhero lifestyle was going to be.

The six of them walked down a hall to a large wooden door, which Armor punched open.

Inside was a laboratory is severe disarray, glancing up, Hisao noticed a particularly big hole in the ceiling. For a moment, he thought something moved up there in the distance, but then it was gone.

In a corner, under an overturned supply cabinet, was a small green box glowing with a pale yellow light.

"At a guess I would say that's our object." Laura remarked and picked it up. It was cold to the touch, roughly three inches on a side and had a small protrusion on the top. "Is this the seed we needed?"

"I don't think so." Hisao replied, "I was told they were bigger, and triangular. But...I do think I saw this before. In the schematic for one of HYDRA's weapons, there was something a great deal like this. Power source, if I recall correctly."

"Since when does Hydra have Celestial tech?" Misha asked.

_[They've got all sorts of stuff]_ Shizune signed and thought simultaneously, [_I admit its rare. Anyway, on to the next place. Where's our next stop, Psylocke?]_

There wasn't a response.

_[Psylocke?]_ Shizune thought again and turned around. To her horror, Psylocke and Armor were slumped on the ground.

"The hell?" Hisao stated and put his finger on Armor's neck. "She's got a pulse, but whats... Oh Christ." he leaned over and clutched his chest. _"Not AGAIN."_ he thought out as his heart began to pound heavily.

X-23 stuffed the power source in her pocket and looked upwards. "Someone's up there, we need to find a route. Voidstar, get-"

She didn't even need Misha to finish her sentence, as Shizune rocketed upwards through the gap in the ceiling. As she did so, she began to feel ill. There was a sickening feeling in her stomach that was getting worse.

Once she reached the top, she realized why. Standing there, in all six-feet-elven-inches of his imposing figure, was a man. His skin was pale white, he was clad in red armor, his had long blond hair, and on each of his heavily muscular arms was a long metal coil.

"_Omega Red._" she thought. _"Lethal pheromones, steals life energy from others,super strength, Wolverine-level fighter...I am so freaking out of my league it's not even funny."_

The man gave a nasty grin at her. "So you can fly then? I was thinking I could pick you all off from a distance, but getting my hands dirty is fine too. I must say, I don't recognize you. Or your friend with the pink hair. What's your name?"

Shizune saw the words on her glasses, but just glared at him and let out a energy blast at his head. Omega easily dodged it. "Don't want to talk then? Very well, let's dance, comrade."

Down below Misha looked up and saw a the red-armored figure attacking her girlfriend, illuminated by Shizune's energy powers. She pulled out her gun but Laura grabbed her wrist.

"Don't!" X-23 hissed, "Fire that in here and the entire building could collapse." She glanced at Hisao, who was still struggling with his chest, then looked at the two X-men without healing factors, who were having an even rougher time. "We need to get up there. Where's a staircase?" She darted off down the hall, and Misha ran after her.

As Shizune barely dodged a carbonadium tentacle, it occurred to her that this was probably the worst place possible to fight this man. For starters, Omega's primary attack was his coils, which are far more effective in close quarters, while she was more a long-ranger attacker. Second, the unstable nature of the laboratory meant she couldn't cut loose without worrying about causing a cave-in. Third, since she was the only one who could fly, it meant she had to fight him alone.

For the moment, she was holding him off, but she was feeling worse by the moment, and there was only so long she could ignore the feeling in her body his death spores were causing. It was like when you were so sick you didn't want to make slightest movement to get out of bed. And she was in a firefight feeling that way, despite every muscle in her body groaning in protest.

She fired another energy blast and missed again, then spun around and looked around at the room. Numerous bottles of chemicals were lined on shelves around the room. She noticed one in a wax vial saying "Hyrdrofloric acid", grabbed it, and threw it in Red's direction, then dove behind a table and hit it with an energy blast. The bottle burst open and sprayed the fluid all around. Omega let out a howl of pain as the liquid sunk through his skin and begin to eat into his bones.

"Congratulations, missy. You have REALLY made me mad." He growled and lunged.

"Damnit." X-23 mumbled, staring at the stairway, which was filled with rubble. "Okay, new plan. Hardhead, go back to the other three. I can get up there. Hopefully the two of us will be enough to stop him."

"How are you-" Misha begin, but Laura ran over to a pillar next to a substantial hole in the wall, extruded her claws, then sunk them into the side of the support beam. She then took her other hand, sank it above the first hand, and pulled herself up.

Shizune coughed hard and glared at Red. She moved to dodge another tentacle, but was a moment too slow. The coil wrapped itself around her neck and she let out a slight gasp as he tried to strangle her.

"Eh?" Omega said.

Out of the corner of her eye, Shizune noticed movement down the end of the hall.

The coil tightened. In desperation, she fired a blast at the chemicals Omega was standing next to, hoping to cause an explosion. She hoped in vain, all the came out was a nasty smell.

At that moment, a black garbed figure leaped at Omega Red and tackled him with shocking ferocity.

The coil released, and Shizune noticed that Omega was now dealing with X-23, who was barreling into him with everything she had, and tearing huge chucks of flesh out of the white-skinned man. Omega was hitting her, multiple times, but the young girl didn't even seem to notice. That worried Shizune, and she glanced at the shards of the bottles she had shattered.

"Trigger Scent." read the label.

"_Shit."_ Shizune mentally swore and fought the urge to vomit. "_Hisao!"_ she thought as loud as she could. _"Hisao! I need your help!."_

Down below, Hisao coughed. The pain in his chest was subsiding, but he felt ill. Extremely ill.

"Hey there Hicchan!" Misha said, grinning, "Miss me?"

"Misha...what.." He sat up and nearly threw up. _"Shizune, were you calling me?"_ he mentally thought out.

"_It's Voidstar when I'm on a mission, and yes. X has gone berserk, I need you to get in her head and __calm her down." _Came the response.

"_Berserk? What happened?"_

"_I spilled this chemical that causes her to fly into a rage when- look, just do it, alright? Before she cuts me head off."_

Hisao winced but reached out mentally. He found X-23's mind easily enough, and it was covered with sheer, unadulterated, fury. He couldn't make out any intelligent thoughts beneath the rage.

"_Laura? Are you there Laura?"_

"You're a feisty one." Omega stated. "Wolverine's kid sister, I take it? I know him well. I'll mail you back to him piece by piece."

X-23 didn't respond, but flipped up in the air and slashed his chest with her foot claw. Omega tried to grab her, but she was too fast. And in a moment, she sunk her claws through his throat. Omega collapsed and reached for his neck, blood leaking from the holes.

X-23 then turned to Shizune, who braced herself.

"_Laura? Are you there Laura?"_

She twitched slightly.  
_  
"I know you're in there somewhere. Can you hear me?"_

She paused.

"_I know you're not in your right mind right now, but I need you to come back. Psylocke and Armor are still down, we need to get everyone out of here, fast. They're your friends right? We need to help them."_

"Hi..Hisao?" She said softly. Then she turned back to Omega Red, still trying to recover. Then X-23 grabbed Shizune's hand and jumped down the hole.

"Laura?" Hisao asked as the two fell down onto a pile of rubble.

"Use my codename, Mentat. But thank you. And yes, we need to get out of here. I've got the device. Hardhead, help him grab Psylocke, Voidstar, help me get Armor. We're leaving. Now."

Hisao got up, fighting the horrible feeling of unwellness permeating his body and picked up the upper part of Besty's figure. Misha grabbed the legs. With the other two carrying Armor, they hurried towards the exit. As they neared the exit, a voice shouted "Come back here! We're not finished yet!" from off in the distance

"Can you carry her this last bit?" Misha asked.

"I think so, but why?" Hisao responded.

"Got an idea."

Hisao nodded and dragged Psylocke out of the building.

"_What is she DOING?"_ Shizune mentally shouted, _"I'm going back there-_" she then blinked at Misha, who was standing just inside the building. "_Oh, very clever."_

Misha pulled out her gun, turned the dial at the way down, and fired at a pillar. A bullet flew out of the barrel at well in excess of Mach-7, blasting the support in half.

The building shuddered and cracks began to appear in the walls and ceiling. Misha ran out into the daylight just as the tower collapsed.

"I guess that last we'll see of him." Hisao remarked.

"Surely you know better than that." X-23 replied, "Never assume anyone is dead until you see the body. And even then it's not for sure. I can safely say he'll survive that. But he is out of our hair for now. Get Psylocke and Armor into the blackbird. I'll pilot it a couple miles from here so they can recover."

As they entered the Blackbird, Hisao turned to X-23. "Can I ask you something? Why did you go berserk like that?"

"Ah well..." X-23 shook her head. "The facility brainwashed me to go nuts when I smelled a certain chemical. There was some of that in the building."

Hisao gave her a screwed up look. "And you do this kind of stuff anyway? Am I the only person who thinks it a terrible idea to take along a person who is liable to attack their own teammates?"

"_It's not as much of an issue as you might think." _Shizune mentally responded, _"There's only been a few times when she has lost control like that."_

"And how many people have died on those "few time?" Hisao replied.

"Since I joined the X-men?" X-23 responded, "One hundred and ninety three." She pulled the power source out of her pocket and tossed it to Hisao "Keep track of this" she stated, then turned on the Blackbird and begin to pilot it aloft.

"That's a lot of-"

"I know. Believe me, I do," Laura sighed, "I hate it as much as everyone else does. I just have no control over it, though Psylocke's been trying to help me." She looked at Hisao sadly. "To tell you the truth, I don't really like this lifestyle. I'm sick of hurting people, I'm sick of fighting. What I'd really like to be is a writer."

"Then why don't you quit?" Hisao asked

She shrugged. "I'm too messed up to do anything else. You know..." she paused for a moment, "Honestly, I see a lot of myself in Hanako. The innocent, who never wanted to hurt anyone but was forced against her will to do so. Do you remember what I said when I first met her?"

"That you were mind controlled?"

"Yeah. The scent is what I was referring to. The facility forced me to kill people who actually cared about me. My senshi, for one, my mother, for another..." She shrugged. "I know what that poor girl is going through, and I want to stop her from being forced to be like...me."

She landed the blackbird in an empty field, and turned to Hisao. "For what it's worth. I'm sorry I couldn't help her the first time. I hope I can now."


	8. 7: A sinister discovery

"_Kill them"_

As she lay in her bed with the covers over her and the door to her room lack, all Hanako could think of what that she felt like she was drowning.

"_Destroy them."_

It had never gotten this bad before.

"_Annihilate them."_

Not after the fire.

"_Murder them."_

Not after the abuse from her classmates.

"_Slaughter them."_

Not even after her first kidnapping.

"_Obliterate them."_

And as she lay under the covers.

"_Massacre them."_

All she could think of.

"_Nullify them."_

Was whether she could be saved once again.

"_Punish them"_

Or whether this time

"_Exterminate them"_

Hisao would be too late.

"_Terminate them"_

There was a knock on the door.

"_Ignore it." _the voice said. "_You're alone. You always will be alone. That won't ever change."_

"G-Get...out..." Hanako said weakly and smacked herself in the head.

"_You think hurting yourself will get me out of you?" _There was a sinister chuckle,_ "You really have no clue whats going on, do you? One more day. One more day and I'll be strong enough to take you over."_

Hanko summoned as much inner strength as she could and walk over to the door and opened it. A familiar blonde haired woman stood in the doorway.

"L-Lilly?" Hanako said softly.

"_Oh, this one again?" _She heard in her mind, "_Give me a break. I can't begin to understand what you see in her. She can't even see."_

"How are you doing?" Lilly asked.

"T-Terrible," Hanako stated honestly and shook her head. "It won't stop."

"_Damn right I won't stop._" The voice said again, _"You're going to die, Hanako Ikezawa. And I will take over the shell that was your body."_

Lilly reached over and gave Hanako a hug. The dark haired girl took a deep breath and tears began to form in her eyes. " "All I w-wanted... I just wanted to be normal." She said, her voice cracking slightly, "Why d-did this happen?"

"I don't know." Lilly said softly. "I really don't. And I know there's not much I can do to help, but I'll do what I can."

Hanako let out a choked sob, "Will Hisao be b-back soon? I really need...I need him to help me."

"_Help you? Nobody can help you."_ The voice stated, a maniacal tone dripping into it's sound.

"I'll check," Lilly pulled out her phone and dialed a number. She held it up to her ear, then frowned. "It says it can't make a connection. He must be in an area with no reception."

Hanako winced, "I see." she said softly, then paused, "Lilly... W-would you understand if I... if I were to kill myself rather than be taken over?"

Lilly seemed a bit taken aback. "Hanako... suicide is never the answer. Ever."

"I just d-don't think I can bear to hurt anyone else." Hanako answered

Lilly shook her head, "Hanako, you're a survivor. No matter what, you always kept going. You shouldn't ever stop going, even if things seem horrible at the time."

Hanako wiped the tears from her eyes. "B-But what if I kill someone?"

Lilly shook her head, "Don't think that way. You're too important. To Hisao, to Trevor, to myself, to everyone... Losing you would destroy us all."

Hanako flopped down on the bed.

"_What a naïve moron."_ the voice said, "_You're not really listening to her, are you?"_

Hanako tried to ignore it, instead turning to her friend. "Lilly, c-can you stay with me? I need support."

"Of course." the blonde haired girl nodded, "As long as you need."

Elsewhere...

"What...what happened?" Psylocke asked, slowly getting up from her seat.

"Arkady Rossovich got the drop on us," X-23 replied, "We're lucky to have gotten out alive."

"And the seed?" Armor asked.

"Wasn't it," Hisao replied, fiddling with the small box they'd found in the building. A small spark emitted from the protrusion, causing him to nearly drop it in surprise. Instead, he stuffed it into his pants pocket and looked at Betsy."You alright?"

"Getting there." she responded. "Where's Omega Red now?"

"_Under about twenty tons of rubble, courtesy of my girlfriend there."_ Shizune thought back, "_I guess you were right about her needing a long range attack."_

Misha grinned. Psylocke nodded.

"So, where to now, fearless leader?" Hisao asked.

Psylocke paused. "I can think of a few more places to try. Wundagore Mountain, the Savage Land, Altantis, Lemuria, Attilan, Subterranea...wait a moment..." She picked up the scanner lying on the dashboard of the blackbird and looked at it. "This wasn't there before."

"Another signal?" Armor asked.

"Yes. And very close too."

"You okay to travel?" X-23 asked "The two of you got hit pretty badly."

"I'll walk it off." Psylocke replied.

She got up from the seat she was in and opened the exit door. The others followed as she headed nearly straight north.

"I don't supposes you have any coffee?" Hisao asked after about a mile.

"You tired?" Misha asked.

Hisao nodded. "While I'm not of the exact length of time I've been awake, what with the time zone changes and all, I'm guessing I'm on around my twentieth hour. Why, you're not?"

"Nah, fun like this always cheers me up." Misha replied

"One of our closest friends is in danger of losing her mind, and you find the search for her cure _fun_?

Misha shrugged, "Well, it's either having fun or sitting around being sick with worry. I'd prefer the 'fun' option.

Hisao blinked, "Fair point." he admitted.

"If you're tired," Psylocke started, "Try reducing the Adenosine levels in your brain. It's in the hippocampus, right behind the neurons that hold the memories of your eighteenth birthday."

Hisao focused for a moment. "Got it. Thanks."

"Be careful not to abuse that ability, mind you." Psylocke added, a sense of importance in her voice. "Just because you don't feel tired doesn't mean you don't need to sleep. Staying awake for more than three or four days is a bad idea."

Hisao nodded. "This won't take much longer than that, will it?"

"Hopefully not...huh."

Psylocke stopped at a large wooden door that was lying on the ground. It was not attracted to any frame.

"It's coming from in there." she said, pointing to the door. Leaning over, she picked it up, revealing plain dirt ground underneath.

"You're joking, right?" Hisao stated "It's not attached to anything."

Psylocke shook her head and pointed to a small red diamond etched onto the front. "This is Sinister's work."

"Who's sinister?" Misha asked.

"Century old geneticist, former ally of Apocalypse, complete sociopath." Armor stated, "That's the nickel version anyway. Not someone we really want to face."

"But it's not like we have much of a choice." Psylocke stated and set the door up against a pile of rubble. "Now as to open it...Let's see... He usually seals his portals with a password. How about... Famine."

There was no result.

"Summers." Psylocke stated.

No result.

"Genetics." Misha stated

"Horseman." X-23 suggested.

"Essex" Psylocke stated.

"En Sabah Nur." Armor guessed.

"En saba what?" Misha asked.

_[That's Apocalypse's real name]_ Shizune signed and thought, [_Read the files, Misha_.]

Hisao paused for a moment. "How about "Rebecca?"

There was a deep thrumming and the door opened, a void appearing the air behind it. A steep staircase could be seen leading down into the darkness.

"How did you know..." Misha began,

Hisao shrugged. "Well, in the files I read, that was his wife's name. Long, long time ago."

"A wife huh?" Misha chuckled and turned to Armor, "Complete sociopath, you say?"

Armor rolled her eyes. "Yes. Complete sociopath. Let's go."

The team walked down the staircase into the darkness. As they descended, it seemed they were walking into a large laboratory. Numerous person sized tubes filled with a green fluid could be seen lined up against the wall, connected to some diabolic machinery by a series of tubes and wires.

"Ok, I'll bite," Hisao stated, "How does this work? I mean, one minute we were in Genosha, and now we're down here through some gap in reality."

"Tesseract technology," X-23 responded, "Mr. Sinister keeps his main laboratory in a side dimension and connects it to locations in our world through trans-dimentional portals."

"So, it's bigger on the inside," Hisao replied, "Sounds simple enough. That would come in real handy in my apartment you know, I've stuffed that place with so much stuff..."

"You're a Doctor Who fan?" Psylocke replied, sounding slightly surprised.

"Little bit, after I copied English from your mind I spent some time watching shows you can't get in Japanese. Some pretty interesting stuff. Doctor who, Firefly, that weird show about superpowered teenage delinquents... What was that one called?"

"Misfits." Psylocke replied.

"How'd you get those shows?" Misha asked.

"I have an internet connection, remember?" Hisao replied.

"So, you torrented them?" Armor concluded, sounding slightly amused.

"You're really not supposed to do that." Psylocke said.

Hisao rolled his eyes, "Compared to telepathically manipulating your teammates into getting mindwiped and dumped randomly over the world, I think downloading shows you can't see otherwise is a rather minor offense. Yes Betsy, I read your file too."

"The siege perilous was a long time ago-" Psylocke began, then rethought her statement. "Actually, I admit you have a point. But call me Psylocke when I'm on a mission. Wait- there's something ahead."

She paused for a moment and pressed her finger to her temple. "Damnit. Marauders. Five of them."  
She pulled out the scanner. "And they're between us and the device."

"Then let's go kick their ass." Shizune thought and signed, "I took out seven of them in the danger room simulator."

"Voidstar, that program was on fifty percent lethality."

"Seriously? Why?"

"Because none of the new recruits were able to beat it on full caliber."

"I could have."

"This is not the time to argue." Psylocke concentrated. "Let's see... Okay, it looks like the ones present are Riptide, Arclight, Blockbuster, Prism, and Scalphunter. Armor, you take Prism. He's powerful, but his body is extremely fragile. A good punch should shatter him. X-23, get in close to Scalphunter and kill him before he gets to his guns, Mentat, stay out of sight and try to get in Riptide's head. He's got the weakest of their mental defenses so try to shut down his brain. Voidstar, since you can fly, Attack Arclight. Keep your distance and stay off the ground. Hardhead, you and I will be attacking Blockbuster. Remember they can be clones at will, so don't worry about holding bakc."

"Which one's Blockbuster?" Misha asked.

"Oh for... He's the one twice as big as any of the others. Anyway, try to make your self a target while I try to jam him with my psyblade. If we're lucky, we can end this fast. Everyone ready? "

Four grunts of assent and one telepathic "got it, boss" came forth.

"Alright everyone. MOVE!" Psylocke stated, and the six of them sprinted down the corner, Hisao retarding his pace to stay slightly behind the others.

In a few moment,s five figures appeared in the distance. The plan was a good one.

Unfortunately, like most plans, it didn't survive first contact with the enemy.

The moment the team arrived within striking distance, a swarm of razor-sharp bone shurikins flew out from the closest. They flew at stunning velocity, and as the team dived behind several particularly large pieces of machinery, one of the disks sliced Shizune on the upper arm. She winced in pain.

With Shizune, X-23 and Armor on one side of the rather large hallway, and Misha, Hisao and Psylock on the other, the team was essentially divided in two.

"_They've seen us."_ Psylocke telepathically spoke _"Frontal attack is out. Hardhead, pull out your gun and fire from cover. Voidstar, same to you. Mentat, my orders still apply."_

Voidstar twisted around and put her other, undamaged arm out, then emitted an energy blast, Misha dialed her gun to the third position and fired. The shot flew past the Marauders and stick a tube of liquid. It burst.

Hisao reached out, feeling the psionic barriers in the one Psylocke had called "Riptide." Unfortunately, the shielding held strong against his assault._ "No use Psylocke, can't get in."_

"_Keep trying."_ came the response

A hail of bullets flew with the barrage of shurikens. Then the ground started to shake. And then a large hulking figure ran up in the midst of the projectiles and grabbed Armor from her location closest to the Marauders. Hurling her with astounding velocity toward a distant part of the wall, the young girl's psionic shielding deployed almost immediately as she impacted.

X-23 lunged at Blockbuster, but the brute proved to be faster than his oversized form would indicate and he grabbed her by the throat. In an instant, her foot claw extended, and slashed the brute across his chest. He roared in pain, yet refused to relinquish his grip.

Misha dialed her gun to the fifth setting and fired. The explosion filled the hallway. Armor and Hisao winced and clutched their ears. Psylocke visibly flinched. A large hole appeared in Blockbuster's chest, and he collapsed to the ground.

[Are you trying to make everyone else deaf too?] Shizune signed.

"Well, it worked." Misha called out. "Why are you complaining?"

"_Hardhead,"_ Psylocke thought, "_Since you're invulnerable, get out of cover and engage them. Armor, make your shielding as big as you can and try to provide cover for X-23, Voidstar and I. Mentat, keep trying to break down the mental barriers. Ready? Now!"_

Misha jumped out of cover and ran straight in front of the line of fire. As numerous bullets,prismatic energy bursts and shurikens flew out of the three closest marauders, only to bounce off her, she dialed her gun down and fired at the one known as "Prism." This time, it was a hit and the glass man shattered into shards.

Armor ran up, her shielding expanded to roughly twice her size, allowing Psylocke, X-23 and Voidstar to crowd behind her."

Misha dialed her gun and fired at the one known as "Arclight." It missed by a wide degree and struck a tube a fair distance down. It shattered and a young man fell onto the floor.

As if synchronized, the three remaining marauders turned around, stared straight at the figure, and then turned towards the X-men. And then they ran. They ran straight past Misha, straight past Armor, and past Hisao, who was still behind the machinery. And they kept running until they were well out of sight of the team.

"Allright then! We win!" Misha spoke cheerly, then looked at the worried look on Psylocke's face. "What's wrong?"

"Hardhead," Betsy said softly, "The Marauders are some of the deadliest warriors the X-men have ever faced. And they just _fled."_

"Deadliest? They didn't seem that tough." Misha chuckled slightly.

_[That's because the ones we faced had physical attacks,] _Shizune stated _[and we have a team with three healing factors and two people who are nigh-indestructable. There was little they could realistically do to anyone except Psylocke. Now if they had Scrambler, or Vertigo, or Malice, then we would've had problems. Major problems. We got very lucky here.]_

The man on the floor about a hundred feet away stirred slightly, and as he twitched a bolt of telekinetic force emitted from him and shook the room.

The X-men exchanged nervous glances. Hisao, however, walked up to the figure. He was young, roughly eighteen years of age, and was clad in a black wetsuit. His hair was mostly brown, but the front part of it was white. And his left eye was faintly glowing with a yellow light.

"Mentat, are you sure that's wise?" Armor said.

"No, but I don't really care. This poor guy has been trapped in this pit for god knows how long with just Sinister and those psychos for company. He deserves a friendly face." Hisao then leaned over on the ground and touched the man.

"Hey, are you okay?" he said softly.

The man's eyes flew open and a burst of force emitted from his right hand, missing Hisao by inches and shattering a nearby computer monitor on the wall.

"Easy, I'm not going to hurt you," Hisao stated, "What's your name?"

The figure stared at Hisao, and Hisao felt his mind being invaded. He gasped for a moment and then the presence was gone.

"Nate." The figure stated, "Nate Grey."


	9. 8: Desperation

Chapter eight: Desperation.

"Nate Grey?" Misha asked, clearly puzzled. She turned to Shizune, "You heard of him? Any relation to Jean Grey?"

Shizune shook her head. [_No idea,_] she communicated, [_Never heard of this guy. And I've read every file in the database back at headquarters._]

Hisao looked at Nate, "How long have you been down here?"

Nate glared at Hisao, "Who the hell are you people?"

"We're X-men. One branch anyway." X-23 responded. "I'm X-23 That's Psylocke, Armor, Voidstar and Harhead. You just met Mentat."

"I got your names when I read Hisao's mind. But what are you doing down here?" Nate regarded the team sceptically

"Looking for a couple life seeds." Hisao responded, "Six inches long, triangular, striped. You seen any?'

Nate regarded Hisao coldly, "Life seeds? Why do you want life seeds? Are you one of Apocalypses agents?"

"What? No!" Hisao raised his hands defensibly, "Me, an agent of Apocalypse? That's-Look, our friends are very sick, and we're trying to help the. I just want to get the seeds and out of this place!"

Nate clenched his right hand into a fist, "I think you're lying. Your part of the marauders! You need to leave me the hell alone!"

Hisao opened his mouth then closed it, then opened it again. "Nate, I can't imagine what they've been doing to you, but I'm not here to make it any worse. If it helps, read my mind."

Nate stared at Hisao for a long moment, and Hisao felt a telepathic force ramming into his brain at a power he had never experienced before. For a moment, he thought his heart might stop, but that fear thankfully was not realized. Nate sifted through his brain for several moments, before visibility relaxing.

"Alright." he finally sated, "I believe you." he glanced at the others. Shizune glared at the teenager.

"How long-" Misha began but Nate cut her off

"All my life" Nate replied.

"Wait, what?"

The teenager raised his hands in a "I really don't know" motion. "Look, I'll tell you what I can. I've been in that tank as long as I can remember. Even so often, this big guy with white skin and black armor removes me and tries to "train" me. I really have no idea who he is or why he's doing it."

"That's Mr Sinister." Psylocke answered, "At a guess, I'd say you're one of his projects."

Nate nodded, "I guess. I wasn't really aware of what else was going on but this last couple times I started receiving thoughts while I was unconscious. All sorts of stuff. People in schools, people at jobs, people asleep. I was going to try to bust out the next time I awoke but I guess you saved me the trouble." He shook his head, annoyed at the memories. "Anyway, you're X-men?"

"Yeah." X-23 stated, "X-corp, Toyko division to be precise."

Nate paused for a moment. "Thought you only took in mutants, not... what are you three?" He motioned to Hisao, Shizune and Misha.

"Godchildren" Misha stated.

_[That is the dumbest name I have ever heard.]_ Shizune responded, _[But the X-men take in other metahumans too. There are numerous examples, including the Mimic, Longshot, Shatterstar, Karima sharpander...]_

"How did you tell we weren't mutants?" Misha asked.

Nate shrugged, "Different psychic signature."

"You were able to tell genetic coding through psychic analysis?" Psylocke said, sounding slightly impressed, "That takes skill."

"It's a gift."

"Anyway, about the seeds..." Armor stated.

Nate paused, "Is there anything else you can tell me about them?"

"Well, they were made by the Celestials. A race of aliens that stand as tall as skyscrapers and tinker with genetic coding." Armor shrugged

"Alien tech...?" Nate hesitated, "Actually I think there is something like that here. Follow me."

He started marching down the hallway. The other followed. As he reached a blank section of wall several hundred feet distant, he glanced back at Hisao. "The white guy...Sinister. He keeps the really important stuff locked in a vault. The normal entrance is genetically coded to his DNA, but I can get you in there." He stared at the wall for a moment and raised his hand. With a sudden rush of power, the wall blasted into shards, revealing a small room. For a moment, an alarm screeched, and an icy cold voice began playing. A image of a white-skinned man appeared in the room.

"If you are receiving this." The hologram stated, "Then Nate, my dear boy, you are in a world of trouble. I do not know what you think you can get by invading my vault like this, but-"

"Shut up.".Nate let out a burst of force at the bell and it shattered into shards. The hologram flickered out of existence. Sitting on a pedestal in the center was a white gemstone with green stripes. Six inches long.

"That's it." Hisao breathed a sigh of relief.

"But there's only one." Misha pointed out. "It won't work on both of them, will it?"

"We'll discuss who to use it on back in the jet." Psylocke stated. "For now, we'd best hurry."

The team began leaving the room, as they walked down the hall, Hisao felt a voice invade his head.

"_Hisao."_ it stated.

"_Nate?" _Hisao thought back.

"_Yeah, its me. Look, I need to tell you something."_ Nate gave a mental sigh

"_Can it wait? This place gives me the creeps." _Hisao replied

"_No, it can't. Look. I can hear that girl, Betsy's thoughts, and she's not gonna let you help your friend."_ Nate paused

"Y_es, she will_." hisao replied, "_She knows how much this means to me."_

"_No, she won't_." Nate responded, "_I'm getting wind of her emotions, and she's desperate to save Angel. As much as you are to save your girl. What was her name? Hanato?"_

"_Hanako. How am I supposed to trust you? You nearly gave me a heart attack-" _Hisao began but Nate cut him off

"_I know I jumped the gun a minute ago, but I scanned you and you're on the level, near as I can tell. Look, if you don't believe me, ask her."_

Hisao looked at Nate, not sure if he wanted to believe what he was hearing.

"Betsy." he stated

"Call me Psylocke when we're on mission, Mentat." Psylocke responded.

"Is what Nate's saying true?" Hisao asked, getting straight to the point, "That you're not going to help Hanako with this one?"

Psylocke paused briefly in her pacing, and Hisao noticed.

"It is true, isn't it?" he said angrily. "I save your ass against Unit and stop X from killing Voidstar, and this is how you repay me?"

"Angel has saved the world on at least twenty three occasions." Psylocke stated firmly, "He deserves it more."

"You're not going to help Hanako just because she's not experienced?" Hisao stated in disbelief,"We only got these powers three months ago! There's no way we could have caught up to your level in that time frame!"

"That is not relevant at this point in time." Psylocke responded "Angel took down Magneto, Apocalypse, Sinister, Selene and over a hundred other villians. He has served his time well and runs a multi-million dollar company. Hanako is not nearly as important."

"SHE IS TO ME!" Hisao shouted, and let out a psionic blast at Betsy. She flinched momentarily, and then with astonishing speed jammed her psyblade into Hisao's head. He groaned slightly, and fell unconscious.

Hisao stirred

"We'll be arriving Xavier's shortly." He heard Psylocke say.

"I thought Angel was back in Tokyo?" Armor, this time.

"He got moved. Beast insisted on keeping him under surveillance. So he's back at the institute." Psylocke again.

"Are you sure we can't help Hanako with this?" Misha asked. "She's a real good person you know."

"I'm very sorry Hardhead." Psylocke responded, "I really am. But Angels a very good person too. You'll be glad to meet him. If she can hold on long enough, we can look for a second seed, but for now we have to help the one we can. The disease seems to be spreading rapidly from what Xavier can tell, and if wait too much longer, both Angel and Hanako will be taken over."

Hisao opened his eyes slightly. He had been laid down on a makeshift table in the back of the blackbird. Nate Grey was watching him with interest. The others were sitting farther up in the seats towards the front.

"_I must admit,_" Nate thought to him, _"That took guts. That woman's at least three times as powerful as you, and you attacked her without a second thought. This...Hanako person must mean a lot to you."_

"_Everything."_ Hisao thought back. _"She and Lilly saved me. When I first met them, I was a mess. Depressed, distraught, completely out of my comfort zone... I don't know if you have anyone like that. Who'd you'd move heaven and earth for."_

"_Not really."_ Nate responded, _"Tube boy, remember?"_

"_Yeah. I figured."_

"_I'd like to learn though." _Nate added. _"I really missed out. I mean, those two up there. Shizune and Misha, seem to really care for each other. I'd like to know what that's like."_

Hisao hesitated. _"You could learn. I'm sure the X-men could use a telekinetic. Hang out with them, meet interesting people, save the world..."_ He then glanced at Shizune and Misha. _"Why didn't they back me up? I mean, Hanako's their friend too."_

"_Shizune knows she'd be outclassed in a fight. Misha's desperately clinging to the idea both of them can be saved. That's what my telepathy's indicating anyway." _Nate shrugged.

Hisao nodded grimly and stared straight at Nate. _"How powerful are you, exactly?"_

Nate shrugged. _"Not sure exactly how to measure it. But I'm stronger than the ninja up there. Think I am at least."_

"_I need a favor then. A really big one."_

"What?"

"_Hide me from the others senses. Cloak my body, my scent, any noises I make and make my thoughts telepathically invisible. Can you do that?"_

"_Sure. But I don't see how it would do any good."_

Hisao paused, _"I have an idea. It's a crazy one, but at this point I'm willing to try anything. Cover me."_

He pushed the button on the belt strapping onto the table, and it retracted.

Carefully, he walked up to the front seat. The life seed was cradled in Betsy's lap. Gently, he picked it up and put it in his pocket

With a smooth motion, he walked over to the Blackbird's door.

"_Hisao, are you going to do what I think you are? Because I really think you shouldn't-" _Nate thought to him

Hisao pushed the emergency release level on the door.

"NO! BAD IDEA!" Nate called out loud, and five pairs of eyes jerked in Hisao's general direction.

"What are you-" Betsy began, "Mentat, you IDIOT!"

And at that moment, Hisao Nakai jumped out of the Blackbird in mid-flight.


	10. 9: Gravity

Chapter 9. Gravity.

As Hisao bailed out of one of the world's most advanced aircrafts and quickly achieved free fall, he realized he really should have thought this out better. Typically a fall at terminal veloctiy would shatter every bones in a persons' body and reduce their muscles to smears on the ground they landed on. While Hisao had a healing factor, he had no idea whether it would be able to compensate for the damage. And if it didn't, he would die yes, but more importantly Hanako would too. Die or lose herself completely. A bigger problem was that even providing his healing factor allowed him to survive the fall, he had no way to getting back to Japan and delivering the life seed. While he could speak English thanks to his blunt attempt at copying the language out of Psylocke's head, he had no papers, no American money, and minimal knowledge of the area. Unfortunately, his options had been extremely limited, and truth be told, this was probably the only way he had even the slightest chance of saving his friend. There was no way he could take Besty on in a fight, that much was clear. She had years more experience than he ever did. If he had waited any longer, the plane would have gotten to Xavier's and he wouldn't just be facing Psylocke, but every other telepath the X-men had on staff. No, this had been the best of a series of really bad options. _Really_ bad options.

"_Dear lord, what have I gotten myself into..."_ he thought to himself, _"Ok, so the Blackbird cruises at 20,000 meters and terminal velocity for a human is roughly 187 km/hour, so that means I have a little under seven minutes to come up with an exceedingly brilliant plan and put it into execution. Come on Hisao, think."_

As he plummeted, a small city on the distant ground grew larger and larger. As the city grew, Hisao felt a sharp pain in his chest. Focusing, he breathed heavily, trying to will it to subside. It got worse and worse however, and it felt like his body was going numb. The pain clouded his vision and he blanked out. Then the healing factor asserted itself and the pain subsided, only for the ground to be moments away. Hisao let out a strangled choke, and then suddenly felt arms grab him around the waist.

"_Hisao, have you lost your mind entirely?" _Shizune's thoughts entered his mind. _"That is quite possibly the stupidest thing I have seen anyone do in my entire life. I mean, seriously, a fall from this height would have caused your body to be split into dozens of pieces, and healing factor or no healing factor, you would have DIED! What the hell were you thinking?!"_

"_Seemed like a good idea at the time" _Hisao thought back, _"I'm willing to do whatever it takes to help Hanako, and right now that involves getting away from the X-men."_

_"I want to help Hanako too, but there's a difference between being determined and being completely obtuse!"_ Her thoughts were extremely irate. _ "Do you have any idea how lucky you were I was able to find you? Trying to locate a human at the distance between me and you is like locating a needle in a haystack!_

Shizune guided their decent and they landed in an alleyway.

"_Alright, so it wasn't the greatest idea,"_ Hisao thought back,_ "But it worked. At the rate we were traveling, they'll probably be several states away by now."_

"_Yes, but you know as well as I do that Betsy won't rest until she has the life seed and uses it on Angel. __We've got to get back to Japan. Fast."_ Shizune shook her head.

"_I assume you have a plan?_" Hisao asked mentally.

"_Of course, I'm just nailing down the details."_

"So you don't have a plan."

"_Not what I said at all. I'm running down all the unaffiliated teleporters I've learned of and trying to figure whether they'll be nearby."_ Shizune gave him a cross look. _"Which is more than you did. You just jumped out of an airplane and hoped for the best."_ She scanned around _"First order of business is to determine where we are."_

The two of them walked out into a busy street. Hisao took a brief glance into a passerby's head.

"_Orlando, Florida."_ he thought to Shizune.

"_Damnit." _she replied _"Not exactly metahuman central. Still, better than, say, New Mexico. I mean, the only metahuman to come out of that armpit of a state was that Firebird girl. No, wait, I guess there was Portal. And those losers the West Coast Avengers faced a few years back."_

"_Firebird? Like...Pheonix?"_

"_What? No! Hispanic woman, christian missionary, truly immortal as far as anyone has been able to tell... Am I the only person who reads the files?"_

"_I've been working my way through them, there's just a lot to go through."_

Shizune shook her head, _"You need to read them. If you're going to join on these missions, you need to be prepared. I know Misha is... how she usually is with that sort of thing, but you're hardworking. And smart. You could be a damn fine X-man."_

Hisao shook his head, "_This is just a one time thing. Soon as Hanako's better, I'm returning to my studies."_

"_Do you really think the supervillians of this world will leave you alone? Trouble always follows whenever a metahumans around. Move cities, they follow. Change countries, new villains pop up there. Hid on a mountaintop as a monk, still can't shake them. Especially considering Lilly."_

"_What about Lilly?"_ Hisao asked, not sure if he wanted the answer.__

"She has a file, and in Psylocke noted that her potential is on the cosmic level. Think Pheonix or Molecule Man and you won't be too far off. Once word gets out, and trust me, it will, everyone and their brother is going to want a piece of her."

Hisao gave a funny look _"First of all, how did Psylocke even determine that? Second, if she's that powerful, wouldn't she be able to take down almost anyone who tried to hurt her?"_

Shizune shook her head, _"To answer the first, she did some telepathic scans from a distance."_

_"She spied on me?"_

"She's a ninja, what do you expect? Anyway, as for the second, having power is one thing but knowing how to use it is something completely different. Mimic has all the power of the five original X-men, and yet he gets his ass kicked on a regular basis. But to my original point..." she paced around, trying to concentrate. _"Cloak's in New York, Magik is too close with the X-men, Trevor might work, do you have his number?"_

Hisao paused, _"No, but Hanako would."_ he pulled out his phone and dialed, then immediately closed it _"Line's dead."_ he replied, a tint of worry creeping into his thoughts.

Shizune shook her head. "_Dammit_." she thought.

"_You sound a lot different thinking to me than when you sign through Misha_." Hisao remarked.

"_What do you mean_?" Shizune asked

"_Well, before you were a lot more formal, less causal. I don't know why there's the difference_." Hisao shrugged.

"_Because thoughts are communicated differently than hand signals. But thats not important right now. Who else might help...Hub would work, but I don't know how to get in touch with her. Kestrel's dead, No idea where Blink is, last I heard she was trying to take down Apocalypse's descendants, Portal's MIA, Quasar's in another galaxy...Ahha!"_ Shizune grabbed her phone and touched a couple buttons.

"_You know someone?"_

_"Yes, I think so... Perfect."_ She held up the screen to Hisao.

**Disasterplex.**

**With Iron Maiden, In This Moment, and Special Star Lila Cheney.**

Hisao gave Shizune a funny look, _"How is a rock concert supposed to help?"_

Shizune rolled her eyes._ "Lila Cheney is an intergalactic teleporter as well as a musician. She has minimal connections with most of the X-men, and she's giving a concert in Tampa tonight."_

"_Tampa? That's a hundred miles away." _Hisao said, trying to work out the logistics of such a trip in his head.

"_If we get on the train now, we should be able to get there towards the end of the concert. C'mon, we better hurry."_

"_Which train?"_

"_Silver Star._" Shizune tapped her phone a few more times. _"We need to head south by about a mile and a half.I assume you don't have any money?"_

"_Just yen. I didn't expect to be in America."  
_

"_Neither did I. You'll have to telepathically convince the driver to let us on."_

Hisao winced, _"Isn't there some other way?"  
_

"_I could fly us, but that would take several times a long. And you'd be held by your armpits the entire way. From what Misha told me, it's pretty uncomfortable."_

"_Fair enough. Alright. Lets go."_

Shizune nodded and sprinted off down New York Avenue. Hisao followed, panting slightly. As they ran, Hisao noticed that most of the people on the sidewalk seemed to be giving them a wide birth, as if they were deliberately avoiding the two of them.

After a few blocks, Shizune glanced back,_ "Doing all right?"_

"_I'm fine. When we get back, remind me to thank Emi for getting on my case about my physical condition. I owe her big time...Why is everyone avoiding us? This street is crowded yet everyone-"_

"_Anti-mutant prejudice."_

Hisao gave Shizune a funny look, _"But we're not mutants."_

Shizune shook her head and motioned to her uniform._"We're with the X-men. To most people, the two are synonymous. And America isn't as...liberal... about mutants as Japan is. Not just mutants, either. Remember that most of the states still haven't legalized same-sex marriage. It's a fairly backwards nation socially."_

"_Uh, Japan hasn't either."_

"_Not yet, but according to Psylocke. it will be legalized within the next six years. I'm not waiting though. Misha and I will be heading to Canada to tie the knot within the year."_

Hisao blinked_ "You're moving to Canada?"_

"_No, but the ceremony will be performed there. We'll still live in Japan, primarily, though we might take extended trips to other branches of the X-corp. Singapore, Mumbai, London, Paris... I've always wanted to see Paris. Speaking of which, when are you going to propose?"_

Hisao's face flushed. _"Soon I hope. Unfortunately trying to afford a wedding is...difficult. Especially on a student budget. Believe me, I've thought about it for years, but I want everything to be perfect when we do get married, so it's still yet to come. I'm hoping in a couple years, though with the price of graduate school, I'm not sure."_

"_You worry too much about making everything perfect. Considering how much you two love each other, just do what you can and I'm sure she'd love it."_

Hisao was about to respond to that, but a rock stuck him in the back of his head. He whirled around _"What the hell?_" He glanced at three teenagers who were grabbing stone off the sidewalk and hurling them in his general direction.

"_Just ignore it,"_ Shizune responded, _"We're almost at the station."_

"_Ignore it? They just threw-"_

"_Yes, I know. We need to go."_

Hisao nodded and ran off again. _"Is it like this all over the US?"_

"_Not in every part. Generally, older people tend to hate mutants, younger people are more of a mixed bag. Florida is a major destination for elderly folks and their families, so it's less tolerant than say... California. Or Michigan. Or most of New England. It's getting better, slowly. Ten years ago your typical mutant was likely as not to be stoned to death by an angry mob. Now they can at least walk the streets with a fair degree of safety. There are still issues that come up though. Remember that Civil War fiasco a few years back?"_

Hisao shook his head, _"Not really. I don't really pay attention to foreign politics."_

"_The US government tried to make people with powers register their abilities with the government. And would imprison without trial anyone who didn't. The superheros didn't take kindly to that and went on strike. Support for registration dropped off pretty quickly when people realized how badly they depended on the metas. Seattle getting destroyed was a pretty big wake up call."  
_

"_I remember that part. HYDRA attack, wasn't it?"_

"_Actually it was Leviathan. News media got it wrong, similar organization, but manned by soviets instead of Neo-Nazis. But yeah, fifty thousand dead, many more injured, billions of dollars worth of property damage, I'm sure you recall everything that happened afterward."_

Hisao nodded, _"International outpouring of aid, declaration of a state of emergency in Washington state, arguments for tighter security measures... I recall that much. It was like 9/11 all over again."_

Shizune nodded,_ "That killed the act faster than you can say "Senator Kelly." Was repelled within days and nobody has touched the issue since. Thank god. When we get home, look up Rachel Summer's file. She was from a timeline where things didn't turn out nearly as well. Ah here we are. Can you put up a illusion to make us appear in our civilian clothes?"_

Hisao focused briefly. For the life of him, he couldn't think of anything except the school uniforms they worse back on campus. He tried for a moment to conjure up something else, but soon decided it would suffice. _"Think I've got it."_

"_Good."_ Shizune thought and walked into the station. Hisao followed. Then Shizune paused at the large train schedule posted on the board. _"Crap." _she thought.

"_What?" _Hisao thought back.

"_The only train to Orlando left several hours ago."_

Hisao winced._ "Plan B then."_ He pulled out his phone and dialed a number. In slightly accented English, he said to the person on the other end, "Yes, connect me with a cab company." There was a short pause "Yes, we're at the Amtrak station. I need to hire you to get me and friend to Orlando. And fast."

He turned to Shizune and switched back to Japanese"_They're on their way."_

"_Whose on their way? I don't read English well."_

"_Cab company,"_ Hisao paused "_You mean those glasses don't have a translator? I would have thought that'd be an obvious thing to include."_

"_No," _Shizune responded, _"Most of the X-men have any and all relevant languages telepathically inserted into their head, but Psylocke hadn't been able to find the time yet."_

Hisao shrugged _"I could try. With English at least. I mean, I took it out of Psylocke's head, it shouldn't be that hard to insert it into someone else's."_

Shizune thought for a moment. _"Can you manage it before the cab gets here?"_  
_  
"Well, I inserted my vision centers into Lilly's head in just a few minutes, so probably."_

"_Go ahead then."_

Hisao closed his eyes and focused inward. Reaching into his temporal lobe, he isolated the relevant parts of Broca's area and Wernicke's that dealt with English and took a hold of them. Then, reaching out he found Shizune. As he entered her mind, he sensed it, to his surprise, as a distorted view of Yamaku. Looking inward he could sense regions dealing with her dorm room, the library, and most especially the student council office, which was much larger than it had been in reality and was filled with a series of board games, with unusual titles such as "Get term paper done," "Beat danger room simulation," "Make out with Misha." Hisao chuckled slightly at the last one.

He eventually sensed the relevant locations, and inserted the information, then exited. _"I think I'm getting pretty good at this."_ he remarked.

"_I can tell."_ Shizune replied, _"Thanks. I owe you one."_

"_So, I guess your experiences at Yamaku made quite the impression on you."_

Shizune looked at him, somewhat surprised. "_Yes, but what made you say that?"_

Hisao shrugged. _"My telepathy can work in a number of ways. I can hear thoughts, I can analyze parts of people's brains, and I can enter what I call a "mindscape." It's a sort of semi-phyisical representation of a person's psyche and everybody's is different. Lilly's is a old house in the country, __Hanako's is a nearly empty library. Yours is made up of locations in Yamaku."_

Shizune looked at him, apparently intrigued. "_Really? That's interesting. Psylocke never mentioned anything like that. Do you always get it when you enter people's minds?"_

Hisao shook his head, _"No, only if I go in really deeply. And I don't usually do that unless there's a good reason. It's a bit invasive."_

Shizune tensed slightly, "_See anything untoward in there?"_

Hisao grinned, _"Would I be looking for something like that? Nah, it was pretty much what I expected. Sex toys and bondage magazines."_

"_What?" _Shizune thought, her mind in shock.

"_Kidding kidding. Board game,s actually. Lots of board games." _Hisao chuckled slightly.

Shizune visibly relaxed at that. At that moment, a cab pulled up. The door opened and the two climbed in the back.

"X-men, huh?" The driver, a heavily muscled man with a tattoo of a guitar on his right elbow, said, "Don't see many of those taking cabs these days."

"Ah geeze," Hisao stated, realizing he had dropped the illusion to work on Shizune's mind.

"It's fine. Just fine," The man responded, "I like dem X-men. One of dem, that white haired chick? Saved ma wife a few years back. She was on a trip in new york during an attack by some a dem aliens that look like giant insects wit' eyeballs big as dinner plates. Nearly got eat'n by one. That girl managed to shoot some kinda lightning out of her hands or something. Cooked em like a duck ona spit."

Hisao was somewhat surprised he could understand the man as easily as he was, even with his knowledge of English. "How fast can you get to Tampa? One of my friends is in dire danger."

"Bout two hours. Name's Mac, by da way. Nice ta meet ya." The taxi drove off.

"_Lucked out there." _Shizune thought to Hisao. _"Next time, keep the illusion up,"_

"_Yeah, sorry about that."_ Hisao thought back.

"_You know, it's nice to be able to communicate with someone without an interpreter. I mean, I love Misha to pieces, but I really wish I didn't have to rely on her so much."_

Hisao nodded, _"I can guess it's a real drag."_

"_Yeah. I mean, Wolverine is also good at sign language, but he's not always on base. Psylocke's a telepath, but she and I just don't have very much in common. We basically talk about the mission and that's it. Armor still hasn't learned sign, and X-23... She's an odd case."_

"_How so?"_

"_She's had very little experience with the world that isn't related to killing people." _Shizune answered_ "And due to the way she was brought up, she doesn't understand emotion like most people do. Rather than getting it naturally, on instinct, she has to learn most of it the same way most people would learn a language or talent. It's like she autistic, in a way."_

"_Really? She seems pretty normal to me." _Hisao thought for a moment about pointing out Shizune didn't have the greatest grasp of emotion either, but decided against it.

"_She's worked hard. And she's still working hard. Misha and I have actually been helping her learn that sort of thing, but she still doesn't always get it. For example, but she's rather blunt in saying things. Also, she doesn't really like getting close to people, most likely because she's lost everyone she allowed herself to open up to."_

"_I see.."_ Hisao paused,_ "I don't suppose I could help?"_

_Shizune shrugged. "Maybe. I mean, out of everyone on the team, you have the biggest heart. If she ever decides to open up, I think you could be what she needs. You're kind, compassionate, extremely hard to hurt and you will go through hell for your friends. She could use someone like you."_

"Biggest heart?" Hisao asked.

"Of course." Shizune responded.

Hisao opened his mouth to object, but a voice from the front interrupted him.

"Yer a quiet couple." Mac stated.;

"Uh, sorry about that." Hisao replied. "We were just thinking to each other."

"Thinkin huh? So yer a telepath? What's your friends power?"

"Uh, flight and energy blasts. And we're both pretty hard to hurt."

"Ah, nice. If I ever had a powa, I'd want teleporation. Would make it so easy to get anywhere."

"I know the feeling" Hisao replied.

"What's yer names?"

"Well, I'm uh, Mentat. She's Voidstar."

"Mentat? Yer a Dune fan?"

"Yeah, it was a really good book. Loved the bit about how spice makes the human mind as powerful as a computer."

"I know, right? Programmin can't do shit compared to a guy on drugs. Read sci-fi a lot?'

Hisao nodded, "Yeah, it's one of my favorite genres. I read pretty much every sci-fi book in my high school library over the course of around six months."

"What's yer favorite?"

Hisao paused for a moment. "Hard to choose. I really liked Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. First four books at least. Last one left a sour taste in my mouth."

"Ya heard there's a sixth now, right?"

Hisao blinked "But Douglas Adams died years ago."

"It got taken over by that dude who wrote Artimus Fowl. Eoin Colfer."

"Seriously? I'm going to look into that. Got any other recommendations?"

One hour, forty five minutes, and sixty books titles later...

"Dis where ya wanted to go?" Mac asked,

Hisao glanced at Shizune, who nodded. "Yeah, this is the place." he said to the driver. He sighed and reached in his pocket and pulled out his wallet. "I am really sorry about this, but well... I only have foreign currency. Here's three ten thousand yen notes, combined they're worth around four hundred dollars. I hope that will be sufficient."

"Ah, ya from Japan?"

Hisao nodded, "Yeah. It's a long story."

"Neva woulda guessed. Your English is damn good. Long way from home, I take it?"

"Yeah."

"And someone's life is on de line?"

"Very much so."

Mac nodded, "Tell ya what, I'll let you take this ride for free. Call it repayment for saving ma wife."

Hisao blinked, "Thank you. That really helps."

"No problam."

Hisao turned to Shizune, _"We'd better hurry."_

Shizune nodded and the two got out of the car and walked up to the building. Shizune turned to Hisao _"According to the schedule, Cheney should have just finished a little while ago. If we get backstage, we can probably meet her there."_

Hisao nodded and the two entered the amphitheater. Hisao immediately winced at the loud noise emanating from beyond the food court.

"_Something wrong?"_ Shizune asked.

"_Just the volume."_ Hisao thought back _"I'll be fine." _He concentrated slightly and probed the minds of people around him. _"Ok, from what I can tell the best way to get backstage is this way."_

He set off walking down a dark passage and climbed over a gate stating "No admittance." A few minutes later he noticed light coming from a side corridor.

"Hey, you can't come in here." A voice said, and Hisao looked up to see a giant man with muscles the size of dumbbells blocking the doorway. The man then blinked at him. "More of you?"

"It's very important." Hisao said. He then reached out into the man's mind and thought to him "_Let us in._"

The man blinked and shrugged, then stood aside.

"_What do you think he meant, "more of you"?"_ he thought to Shizune.

"_I can think of a few possibilities, none of them particularly good."_ She responded.

"_I hope it doesn't mean-" _Hisao rounded a corner and stopped dead in his tracks.

"Figured you'd show up here." A familiar British voice replied.

In the room was Lila Cheney. Also in the room were Misha, Nate Grey, Armor, X-23, and Psylocke.

It was at that moment Hisao realized his luck had just ran out.


	11. 10: Defection

Chapter 10: Defection

"You know, Mentat." Psylocke said, "I'm not sure whether I should be angry at you or seriously impressed. Barreling out of a aircraft without a parachute is something not very many X-men can or will do."

"How'd you find us?" Hisao asked.

"Well, Cheney was the only teleporter you could reach in time, so it was obvious you'd go for her. We're going to Xavier's now, and no more foolishness. I just hope your little stunt hasn't cost Angel his life."

Hisao instinctively reached for the pocket his life seed had been placed in.

"Psylocke, can't we help Hanako first?" Misha asked, "I know you care about Angel but..."

"We went over this a dozen times." Betsy responded, "Literally. A dozen. My decision stands firm."

Hisao glanced at Nate. "_You think you could help me take her_?" he thought.

Nate looked at Hisao "I could, but why should I?"

"_If you help me out here," _Hisao thought back _"I'll do whatever you want to pay you back._"

Nat shrugged noncommittally

"You know, while I am glad you all waited until my part of the concert was over before contacting me," Lila stated, "I would appreciate being told what exactly is going on."

"Angel's being overtaken by a psychic poison" Psylocke stated, "Hisao took the item I need to cure him so that he can save a friend in Japan who's also losing her mind."

"So, you have to choose who to save." Lila said and shook her head "Sucky decision, I must admit."

Hisao glanced over at X-23 and Armor. Armor seemed to be a bit annoyed more than anything else.. X-23 however, had a unusual look on her face. Sorrow, mixed with, oddly enough, fear. He then turned to Lila.

"Lila, please." Hisao pleaded, "I don't want Hanako to die. Please help me out here."

Lila glanced at Hisao, then at Psylocke, then at Hisao again"I don't even know you. And I barely know her. Seriously, can't you guys leave me out of it? I never joined the X-men for a very good reason. You guys are nuts. You run around the world, save people who don't give a shit about you, and fight between yourself all-the-freaking-time."

"Mentat, be reasonable. Lets look at this logically. Angel's far better of a fighter, he'd much more of a help in locating a second seed." Psylocke stated.

"We don't have time to find a second seed." Hisao replied, "And considering we nearly got killed trying to find this one, I think we could end up dead if we try."

"Let me also point out," Psylocke stated, "That Angel has been in more fights before he was eighteen, than the seven of you godchildren have been in your entire lives combined. He'd be of immense help in containing Hanako, or putting her down if it come to that."

"PUTTING her DOWN?" Hisao snapped. "Are you NUTS? Do you care about Hanako at all, or were you just letting me come along as some cruel joke? Angel's hasn't been stable since he lost his wings, and let me remind you his new ones aren't even under his own control. Remember kamakazi? That guy he decapitated? Or that bit with the morlocks? Or hell, how about the the time he abandoned the entire team in the middle of a firefight to go all angsty about his amputation. Honestly, I think you just want to use the seed on him to sleep with him again."

"I could say the same thing about you." Psylocke replied, a grim smile on her face.

"WHAT?" Hisao snapped in an even nastier tone, "If you think I'd cheat on Lilly, you're even more nuts than your ex."

"I've been in your head, Mentat." Psyclocke responded calmly "I know fully well that while you love Lilly, you have feelings for Hanako too."

"If you think loving someone means that I'm going to cheat on my girlfriend..." Hisao began. "OH! I see where this is coming from." he gave a nasty grin. "You're projecting."

"Excuse me?" Psylocke responded indignantly.

"Don't play stupid Betsy." Hisao replied, "I read your file. Last time your were dating Angel, you were on a team with that faux-Frenchie with the portable UFO. Fantomex, I think his name was."

Psylocke opened her mouth, but paused.

"Yeah, I see now. You got sick of Warren's angst so you got with the suave master thief." Hisao smirked, "Talk about crass."

X-23 glanced at Psylocke, "Is this true, Psylocke?"

Armor scratched her chin. "It would explain a lot..."

Psylocke's face flushed and she gritted her teeth. "Hisao Nakai, how dare you..." she muttered, and then tore into his mind.

Hisao's shields buckled under the strain, but did not break.

"Why can't I get in..." Psyclocke muttered.

"Eh, thats my doing." Nate stated. "Yeah, I saw you cheated on Angel once the subject was brought up, and I have to say... Pretty nasty Bets. Doing that to a guy on the verge of losing his mind... Kinda low."

"I'll get through soon enough." Psylocke stated angirly

"Psylocke, Mentat please don't fight." Misha said. "I liked us as a team. Not enemies."

"Stay out of this Misha." Psylocke snapped back. "This doesn't concern you."

[It actually does.] Shizune thought and signed [You and Hisao are both my friends, for one thing, for another, inner conflict on a team will prove detrimental in the long run.]

"Give me a break." Lila replied, "You clearly haven't been with the X-whatevers long if you think that's the case. Tussles like this happen every fucking day. Part of why I think you're all nuts."

Psylocke formed her psychic blade in her hand "Give it up."

"Never." Hisao stated.

"You can give it up, or I will take it by force. I'd rather do the former, but the latter is fine by me as well"

Hisao glared at Psylocke, "You'll have to kill me then."

Psylocke rolled her eyes, "Don't be so overdramatic."

"I'll resist you know. I'll resist until every muscle in my body, every once of mental power is spent."

"So, you're going to fight me then?" Psylocke chuckled, "You're not anywhere near my league, as I proved a few hours ago. I can take out you, Nate, Voidstar and Hardhead by myself-"

Her sentence was unexpectedly interrupted by two long, sharp, adamantum laced claws being thrust into her lower back. She started to reach behind herself, but fell to the ground, breathing heavily. X23 looked at the others. "No," she said, "You won't."

"My god X, why_-_?_"_ Armor started

"I didn't expect that..." Lila 's voice trailed off

"What the FUCK-" Nate stated bluntly

"You weren't there when Hanako broke the first time." Laura said firmly, "I was. And I will not let that happen again. Ever. Again."

Armor formed her psionic shielding and lunged at X-23, Hisao stared at her. "_SLEEP_" he thought as hard as he could, and the girl collapsed.

Nate glanced at Hisao, and nodded briefly. Hisao turned to Laura.

"X-23..." Hisao began.

"Laura's fine." the girl responded.

"Laura...Is she.." Hisao then glanced down at Psylocke, who was still collapsed on the floor.

"She'll recover fairly quickly. I stabbed her in a place that is excruciatingly painful, but not lethal." Laura shrugged. "I'm good at that."

Misha opened her mouth, like she wanted to say something, but then closed it again.

Hisao looked up at Laura, then down at Betsy, then back up at Laura. "Thank you." He finally said.

Shizune looked at X-23 and gave her a knowing look. X-23 nodded, then turned to Lila.

"Lila, can you...?" X-23 begin. The rock star stared at Psylocke.

"Was that really necessary?" She asked.

Hisao looked at her for a long moment, "Lila, have you ever cared about someone so much that you'd do whatever it took to help them if they were in danger? And I mean whatever it took. No matter how difficult or unpleasant it might be, you'd be there for them when they needed it."

"I did, once." Lila admitted, "Long time ago."

"Then you understand."

Lila looked at Hisao and slowly nodded. "Yes. I suppose I do. Where was it you needed to go?"

"Homat apartment complex. It's one mile south of the University of Toyko."

Lila nodded and pulled out her phone. "Alright just let me tell my drummer to call Betsy an ambulance...Alright." She closed her phone. "Get in close. We'll be making a short stop and then we'll be there."


	12. 11: Salvation

Chapter 11: Salvation

The group reappeared in a massive... city, of a sort. It was a sea of buildings, shaped in unusual fashions not like anything seen on earth. Angels jutted out in ways that Hisao thought would have made the buildings collapse, and the style was... ugly. Garsh greens and oranges in a mish-mash of colors that made his head hurt. It reminded him of Rins artwork, in a way.

"Welcome to Translatia." Lila said, trying to catch her breath. "Sorry, I'll be just a minute. Teleporting takes a bit out of me."

Hisao glanced up, and immediately regretted it. Rather than a sky, the view above showed a sun, yes, but beyond that was a large ocean, interspaced with continents.

Hisao blinked, taking in the view."This has got to be the largest space station I ever- wait a second. Lila, is this a _Dyson sphere_?" He asked, disbelieving.

Lila nodded, "Yeah, found it abandoned about a decade ago. Took it for myself. It's got everything. Mountains of gold, oceans of water, farms of food, enough technology to hijack a planet and sell it for profit." She chuckled slightly at that last mention, though Hisao wasn't sure why.

"But the problems with a Dyson-" He began, but then shook his head. "No. No. You know what? I don't care anymore. Solid sound makes no sense, it exists anyway. Faster than light travel shouldn't function, it exists despite that. Laura is healthy and normal despite having uniparental dysomy. Superhero science is clearly absurd, but it works. I'm not going to continue calling things "impossible" when they work. Instead, I am going to figure this stuff out, no matter how long it takes." He paused dramatically, but nobody seemed to take heed.

Misha turned to Laura "Are you sure Psylocke is going to be alright?"

X-23 nodded, "We've been on about a dozen missions together, right?"

"Yeah." Misha stated.

"At any point in that time, has my skill in injuring people been called into question?" Laura asked

Misha shook her head sadly.

"Then trust me" Laura replied, "Psylocke will recover in a day. Possibly less." She extracted her claws, sighed, and pulled them back in. "I'm good at what I do. Much as I hate it."

Hisao remembered what Shizune had mentioned, and opened his mouth, but wasn't sure quite what to say. He was good with people, yes, but comforting a girl who had spent her entire life being trained to kill people was a little beyond him.

"You told me couldn't quit." he finally stated, "Because you were too messed up too do anything else. What did you mean by that?"

X-23 shrugged, "Literally everything I've done since I was born was focused towards killing people in some form or fashion. I have no experience doing anything else."

"Well, you could learn!" Misha piped up "I could show you how to play games and sew and write stories and stuff. I'm a pretty good teacher."

Laura gave a hollow chuckle. "I tried learning things once. After I escaped from the facility but before I joined the x-men I found a cousin of mine and we went to school together. I got kicked out in a week. Funny story that."

Misha shook her head, "I wouldn't kick you out! I mean, you're a nice person. A little rough around the edges at times, but you're pretty nice!."

X-23 shrugged but didn't respond.

"Let me get this straight," Nate said, "X-23 has been used to kill people her entire life, right?"

"Pretty much." X-23 admitted.

Nate blinked slightly, "Then why is it that the X-men have continued to use her, rather than trying to help her get a normal life?" he asked, his tone halfway between confusion and accusation.

Shizune and Misha glanced at each other, Misha had a somewhat guilty look on her face.

"Well...ahh.." Misha began...

[_Bear in mind that Misha and I have only been with the X-men for a few month_s.] Shizune signed and thought [_We have not been part of such a decision making process. At a guess however, I would say it's because X-23 has not explicitly announced her intention to leave, rather just wishing things were different. Many superheroes considering quitting at some point in their careers or another, but usually nothing comes of it. I acknowledge this doesn't excuse the situation at all, but it is an explanation. _]

"Don't worry about it," X-23 stated .

Hisao took issue with that, "I am going to worry about it. Laura, if you want to quit, go right ahead. You shouldn't feel trapped in this lifestyle."

Laura shook her head, "I don't know how to do anything else. Also, Wolerine's pretty much the only family I have left. I don't know where I would go otherwise."

Hisao paused for a moment "Tell you what. You wanted to be a writer, right?"

X-23 nodded.

Hisao hesitated, then continued, "Bring some of your writing by my place once all this is over, and I'll help you with it."

Laura paused, opened her mouth, then closed it again. Then she nodded.

"Mentat," Misha began, "Was what Psylocke said true?"

Hisao winced at the question. "Do you have sexual thoughts about other girls?"

Misha's face turned beat red. "Well, ah..."

Shizune gave an annoyed look at Hisao [_Mentat, what my girlfriend imagines is her business. Not yours.]_ she signed and thought.

Misha translated and Hisao nodded.

"Precisely" Hisoa said, "And I would appreciate it if you would offer me the same courtesy."

"I think I'm up to the teleport back." Lila stated.

"Why exactly did we stop here?" Nate asked, "Couldn't you just teleport us straight to Japan?"

"Nah," Lila replied, "I can't travel shorter distances than one astronomical unit. For localized transport I have to stop here first. I want to know something first though. Who the hell are you guys?"

"Pardon?" Hisao asked.

"I've seen Armor all of once, and I only know X-23 cause any clone of Wolverine is going to attract attention. I have no earthly idea who the rest of you are."

"Well, I'm Hisao, those two are Shizune and Misha and this is Nate-" Hisao began

"Codenames, Mentat." Misha stated as Shizune signed

"She's a superhero." Hisao pointed out.

"No, I am not." Lila stated. "I'm a rock star. I have no intention in joining the X-whatevers because I _like_ the way I live my life. I tried that kind of lifestyle, it didn't work out. I had to teleport into the center of a star twice, and I'm sure you can guess how hard that was to survive."

"The temperate of a star is in the millions of degrees." Hisao stated, disbelieving, "how in the world..?"

"Tech from my sphere." Lila replied. "I how no idea how most of the stuff here works, but it's saved my ass a million times over regardless. But what exactly are you?"

Hisao sighed. "I guess 'godchildren' is as good a name as any. Shizune-pardon, Voidstar, Hardhead, and I were exposed to some sort of energy when we broke a "godstone" and well..."

"So, you're not mutants?" Lila asked.

"Nope!" Misha replied cheerfully.

"Then why the heck did you join up with the X-men?" Lila sighing in exasperation. "Leaving aside the prejudice against them, they've got more angst than a horde of emo teenage boys. You could have asked the Avengers. Or the New Warriors, or hell, even the Champions."

Shizune made some quick signs.

"Well, the X-men were the only team with a division in Tokyo!" Misha translated,

"You should have just remained in school and-"

"Trust me, I tried" Hisao replied, slightly annoyed, "Then not one, but two, supervillians busted through my best friends window. Now can we please get back to Tokyo so we can save her life?"

Lila nodded, "Get close."

There was a flash of light, and the surreal landscape disappeared. The familiar landscape of Homat apartment complex appeared in it's stead. The moment the six of them arrived, Hisao took off running. The others followed at a steady pace.

As Hisao entered complex "B" and hurried down the hall, he whispered a silent prayer that he wasn't too late. It had been nearly two full days since he and the X-men had set off in the Blackbird, and judging by the comments Psylocke had made it sounded like the disease progressed rapidly in its victims.

He reached the door to Hanako's apartment and threw it open. Inside, Hanako was curled up in a ball on her bed in the fetal position. Leaning above her was Lilly, who was stroking Hanako's hair gently. As he entered, Lilly turned over to Hisao.

"Thank goodness you've arrived." She stated, "She collapsed like this a few hours ago and hasn't moved since. I tried calling you, but the call wouldn't go through. Fitz has been trying to come with some way to stall the problem, but has come up empty so far. Emi and Kenji haven't responded to my messages yet and I have no way to get in touch with Rin."

"Well, I'm here now." Hisao stated and pulled the life seed out of his pocket. As he did so, his hand brushed against his phone and he realize the battery had fallen out out of the device.

Holding the life seed, he walked up to Hanako. "Now how do I use this..." he mumbled.

"Poke her with it." Lilly stated. Hisao glanced at her.

"How do you know?" He asked

"I read objects, remember?" Lilly replied, "It's telling me pretty clearly you need to prick her."

At that moment, Hanako's eyes flew open and bolts of force blasted from her body. Hisao ducked and one clipped his elbow, leaving as nasty wound that quickly stitched up. He overheard the rest of the team enter the room.

Hanako began to levitate above the bed "YOU'RE NOT REAL!" She cried, her voice barely understandable, distorted in such a way that gave an unearthly sound to it.

At that, Hisao felt a searing pain stab him in the chest.

"Of... all.. the.. times..." He got out, trying to control his heart.

"Hisao, whats happening?" Lila asked, Hisao just shook his head.

"Hanako!" Misha called out.

"Hisao?" Nate asked.

"NONE OF YOU ARE REAL! YOU'RE ALL JUST ILLUSIONS IN MY MIND!" Hanako screamed and another series of force disks emitted from her hands, leaving nasty gashes in the wall across the room.

"Please! Stop this!" Lilly cried.

"Hanako... please..." Hisao got out. "For god's sake... calm down..."

"Her mind's going out." Nate stated, "We better hurry this up."

Through the pain, Hisao glanced in Hanako's mind and realized Nate was right. The library was fully half taken over by the Apocalypse Tomes and they were multiplying by the second. Her climbed on top of Hanako's bed and swung the life seed at her, only to be blocked by a force field.

"GETOUTGETOUTGETOUT!" Hanako yelled, and a force bolt slammed into Hisao, he winced but looked straight at her.

"This is exactly why I never joined the X-men..." Lila muttered.

"Hanako." He stated, the pain starting to die down, "You ….remember... me,... right? Hisao Nakai, …..your friend? I'm here... to help you. I know you're... undergoing... a great deal of trauma... at the moment... but I can fix that..." He held up the life seed. "I can help you... But you need to let me."

"YOU'RE IN MY HEAD! YOU'RE NOT REAL!" Hanako screamed deliriously

"Should I try to force her to drop the field?" Nate asked.

"No...I know what I'm doing" Hisao replied, the pain finally receeding and turned back to Hanako. "Hanako, I can make things real again. You don't need to hurt anymore." He reached over to Hanako's desk and picked up a small, delicate doll with long auburn hair and a blue dress. "Do you remember this?" he asked, "Eighteen birthday party, remember? I was there for you."

"I-" Hanako started, staring at the doll, "I..."

"I was there for you then, Hanako," Hisao stated, "I've been here for you for the past four years. I'll be there for you until the stars fade and the sun goes black. Because you matter to me. You matter so much. Please, just drop the shield."

For a moment, the force field faded. In the moment, Hisao took his chance and jabbed her with the seed.

Hanako let out a yelp of pain and fell from the air she was levitating in onto her bed.

Hisao reached out his telepathy again and looked in her mind. The library was on fire. Not all of it, but the tomes he had seen in her mind, covered in hieroglyphics and bound in human flesh, they were burning. In moments, the taint was gone.

"Hanako?" Lilly asked.

"Lil...ly?" Hanako said weakly, "Hisao? Knew you'd save me... you always...save me..." And at that point, she collapsed, unconscious.

"Good job talking her down like that." X-23 said.

Hisao glanced back at the others and nodded. "Thank you. And thank you all for helping me. Couldn't have done it without you."

"No problem Hicchan!" Misha said cheerily, "That's what friends are for, right?"

Shizune nodded briefly. [_If anything like this ever happens again. Don't hesitate in the least to ask for help._] She signed and thought, [_Thought I do think you should join up with the X-men. You could use the training._]

Hisao shook his head, "Kinda doubt that would be a good idea. I think Betsy's going to be pretty mad when she comes back. I killed her ex, essentially." He visibly winced, then shook his head.

[_Possibly]_ Shizune stated [_But maybe not. She would understand why we did this, though accepting it is another matter altogether_]

"If you'll pardon me." Lila stated, "I have a meet and greet with my fans in ten minutes, so I need to get going. Good meeting you all." She focused for a moment and then disappeared.

Hisao stared at Hanako. She was sound asleep. Poor girl had been through so much the past couple months. But it could improve from here. It had to improve from here.

"I think I'll wait here until she wakes up." He remarked.

"I will do the same." Lilly stated and turned to the remaining four people in the room. "Thank you so much Misha, Shizune, X-23...Um, if you don't mind my asking, who are you?" She turned to the last member.

"Nate, Nate Grey." The teenager remarked, "And no problem. I gather you're Hisao's girlfriend?"

"Yes, I am. Four years and counting." Lilly grinned, "Any relation to Jean Grey?"

Nate shrugged, "Not as far as I know. Don't think too hard about it." He glanced at Hanako. "I'm gathering she's been through a lot."

Hisao nodded, "Yeah. She has."

Nate nodded back. "She's pretty cute, you know. Love the hair in particular. Is she single?"

"No, she's got a boyfriend." Lilly stated, "Sorry to disappoint you."

Nate frowned slightly but nodded again.

[_We should probably get going_] Shizune signed and thought, _[Having been up for forty eight hours, we need some sleep before going to class tomorrow._]

Hisao nodded, "See you two tomorrow then."

"If there's any change, any at all." Misha stated, "Call us. Regardless of the time."

"Will do."

Misha walked off, Shizune followed.

X-23 turned to Nate. "Since you don't have any place to go, I'll put you in one of the spare rooms in our base."

Nate raised an eyebrow. "Really? That's nice of you."

Laura nodded, "No problem." She turned to Hisao and Lilly, "Keep me apprised of the situation. I'll be by soon to check on her." She walked off, with Nate following.

Lilly turned to Hisao, and then gave him a big hug. "Thank you."

"You don't have to thank me," Hisao stated, "It's what I'd do for anyone I care about." He let out a yawn and rubbed his eyes. It struck him all of a sudden how absolutely exhausted he was. Fishing into his pocket he pulled out his wallet and cell phone, inserted his battery back into the latter, and then placed them on Hanako's desk. He then reached into his other pocket and pulled out the power source that, to be honest, he had forgotten he had.

"Interesting." Lilly remarked.

"What's interesting?" Hisao stated.

"Well, just that device. It's talking to me. Tell me about the creatures that made it."

Hisao nodded, but yawned again. "You can tell me all about it soon."

"Would you like me to bring our sleeping bag?" Lilly asked.

Hisao nodded, "Yeah that'd be great."

Lilly walked off and opened the door. After a few minutes, she returned carrying an extra large sleeping bag as well as a change of clothes for her boyfriend. and set it on the floor. Hisao quickly dressed in the bathroom, then opened one side of the bag and crawled in. Mere moments later, he was asleep.


	13. 12: Suprise morning early visitors

Chapter 12: Surprise Early Morning Visitors

Hisao didn't dream at all. But after some indefinite period of time, his rest was unceremoniously interrupted by a unusually enthusiastic banging at the door. As the world swam into view, he looked next to him to see Lilly stirring as well.

He glanced at his watch, which he had forgotten to take off. Six thirty in the morning. Twelve hours of sleep and he still felt utterly exhausted. As he climbed out of the sleeping bag, he glanced over at Hanako, who was still unconscious on her bed.

"Who might that be...?" Lilly mumbled as she pulled herself out as well.

"I can take a guess." Hisao replied as there was another sharp bang on the door.

He got up and opened the door. As he expected. Emi was there, with a bright blue backpack over her shoulder. Somewhat less expected was that Rin was there as well.

"You know Emi," Hisao stated, "While I understand you would want to see Hanako, I really don't think doing it this early-"

"It wasn't her idea." Rin replied, "It was mine."

Hisao blinked for a moment. "Oh." he finally said.

"Yeah," Emi stated, "Rin told me you found the seed, and we decided to come see... well, if it worked or not."

Hisao paused slightly and turned to Rin, "How did you know we found the seed?"

Rin shrugged "En told me."

"Who?" Hisao asked.

"Grandmaster." Rin replied, "Real name's En. He's been monitoring you since you left Tokyo."

"He's been spying on us?" Hisao replied indignantly

Emi chuckled slightly, Rin shrugged again.

"I think he actually cared about her." Rin motioned over to the bed, "Because she matters to me and I matter to him. It's a sort of "friend of a friend" kind of caring. Like when dogs are in heat and-"

"We don't really need the rest of that analogy." Emi interrupted, then looked at Hisao. "Did it work?"

"The seed?" Hisao confirmed, "Near as I can tell it did, though she's rather out of it at the moment. "

Emi grinned and put her backpack on the ground. "Thank god."

"It's good for you two to come by." Lilly stated, "It's been a while since we last talked."

"Yeah." Emi nodded, "Last time was after that guy with guns for hands stormed the school. What a mess that was."

Hisao noticed Rin twitched slightly at the mention of that incident.

"So, how are things with Max?" Hisao asked.

Emi shrugged, "Well, he's visiting his parents again. Seems to do that a lot, to be quite frank. From what he told me, is was due to what he thought happened when he was an Exile."

"Ah, whats that?" Hisao asked

"Well, from what he told me, when the Exiles were drafted, they were each told that their homeworld's timelines malfunctioned and left them with nasty fates. In his case, he accidentally turned his mother to steel and his father declared war on humanity. It didn't actually happen, but the thought threw him for a loop." Emi shrugged.

"And his parents... are?" Lilly asked

"Uh, Rouge and Magneto." Emi fidgeted slightly.

"His dad's a terrorist?" Hisao asked.

"That was my reaction at first too." Emi chuckled slightly, "But reformed terrorist. It's a long story." She grinned cheekily.

Hisao shook his head. "I know that man was cleared by the world court, but I still don't understand why the X-men were willing to give him a second chance." There was a long pause and then Hisao spoke again. "Rin, I have a question."

Rin nodded, "Yes?"

"If I hadn't been able to find the seed in time..." Hisao took a deep breath, "Would you have really done as she asked?"

There was a long pause once more.

"I knew I wouldn't need to." Rin replied. "I knew you'd come through."

"But if I hadn't..." Hisao started. Rin shook her head.

"As I said before you left." Rin stated, "I had faith in you. Faith means knowing things will turn out alright." She shrugged her shoulders for emphasis. "But... yes... If it had come down to it. I would have."

For twenty minutes, the four of them stood in silence. Then, Hanako stirred. Hisao walked over and stood by her bed. Lilly right next to him.

"Hisao...?" Hanako muttered. "Lilly...?"

"Hey there." Hisao grinned, "How are you feeling?"

Hanako paused for a long moment. "I'm... alright." She finally said, "I feel better than I have in a long time."

Lilly leaned over and hugged her, "It's good to have you back."

"Good to be back." Hanako replied.

As Lilly uprighted herself. Hanako got up out of her bed. "Emi? Rin?"

"Hey there." Emi grinned, "Good to see you up and around. Gave me quite the scare, ya know?" She opened her bag and pulled out a large container. "Want some Tamagoyaki? Made it before I came over here."

Hanako nodded vigorously, and Emi reached into her bag again and pulled out a set of plates and began to divide up the omelet dish.

As they began to eat, Hisao spoke up, "I had forgotten what a great cook you are."

Emi chuckled, "Thanks. I've actually been taking a culinary class this semester. Learning to make exotic foods."

"Really?" Lilly asked, "Like what?"

Emi took a big bite out of her dish and replied "Current unit is on Italian dishes. If you'd like, I can bring some Baccala Mantecato over sometime."

"What's that?" Hanako asked

"Creamed cod on bread. It's pretty good, I think." Emi grinned. "Oh, I almost forgot." She reached into her bag again and pulled out several cans of soda. She tossed one to Hisao, who caught it, and then handed two more to Lilly and Hanako. She then picked up a fourth and opened the tab before setting it in front of Rin, who picked it up with both her feet and pulled it to her mouth.

"Emi..." Hanako said suddenly. "Isn't it Thursday? Don't you have track practice today?"

Emi shrugged, "I figured this was more important."

Hanako gave a smile. "Thank you for coming. All of you. I appreciate it."

"I'm just glad you're alright." Lilly replied. "We were all quite worried."

The conversation turned to lighter subjects. New movies coming out, recently written books, what classes they found the most difficult...

"_Meet me in the garden square."_ A voice stated in Hisao's head after around a half hour_ "Now."_

Hisao looked up and said. "Would it be alright if I headed out?" He asked to the others, "Someone wants to talk to me."

Lilly gave him an odd look. "How can you tell?"

"It's an X-men thing." Hisao said, "I'm getting a telepathic flash." He glanced at Hanako, "Is that alright?"

Hanako nodded, "You do what you need too. I'll see you in chemistry tonight, alright?"

"Sure thing." Hisao replied and got up and walked out the door, picking up his wallet and phone on the way out.

Heading down to the garden square, he immediately noticed a familiar purple haired woman standing outside the dorms. She was wearing a brown blouse and black skirt, rather than her usual one-piece leotard.

"Walk with me." Psylocke commanded. She set of down a path and Hisao followed at her pace. After a few hundred feet, she spoke up again. "Angel lost his mind earlier today." she said. Her voice was quite level, rather matter-of-fact.

Hisao opened his mouth, and then closed it again. Truthfully, he wasn't sure what to say. There wasn't much he could say. He then opened it again. "Betsy, I'm sorry."

"It's fine." Psylocke stated.

"What I said-" Hisao began, but Psylocke shook her head

"No." she stated firmly, "What you said was the truth. Yes, I cheated on Angel, Yes it was a crass thing to do, Yes, it was a major mistake. One that I should own up to. In that sense, you were right. On the subject of the seed however..." She sighed, "Angel broke out of his cell. Killed two students and wounded a dozen x-men on the way out."

Hisao nodded weakly

"We think he's planning to destroy humanity." She stated.

Hisao sighed. "I'm not going to apologize for using the life seed on Hanako, Betsy. The circumstances were regrettable, but I stand by my decision."

"I expected as much." Psylocke replied. "However, I believe you should be fully aware of the consequences you have brought. A good man, who has been one of my closest friends for nearly a decade, has now lost himself completely. Because of you."

"If I hadn't done what I did then Hanako would have suffered the same fate." Hisao replied.

Betsy stopped walking and stared at him sternly. "Warren Worthington has saved the world on numerous occasions. At least twenty three times. Three of which were solo. Can you honestly say that Hanako deserved it more than him?"

Hisao stared back. "Yes. I can."

"And how do you justify that statement?" Psylocke responded.

"Because she is still an innocent." Hisao replied.

"In our line of work there is very little difference between innocence and naivete." Psylocke replied.

Hisao shook his head. "Perhaps to you. But to me..." he sighed, "Hanako saved me, you know. She and Lilly dragged me out of my depression and self-pity back when I was at Yamaku. If they hadn't helped me, I probably would have given up." He looked straight at Psylocke. "Or died."

Psylocke raised an eyebrow.

Hisao stood firm. "When I looked into that Godstone a few months back, I saw several major paths diverging from when I entered Yamaku. There are ones where I end up with almost any of the girls I now consider friends. But there also were a significant number of realities where that doesn't happen. In those realities, the most likely result is that I wind up falling off a roof, and often die from the impact. Lilly and Hanako saved my life. I could only do my utmost to repay the favor."

Psylocke gave a brief nod. "Do not think I will forgive you for this affront. But we have more pressing matters to deal with. I do not know what Angel is now planning, but it will likely be disastrous to humanity. I want you on the team whenever we figure out where to intercept him."

"Really?" Hisao asked, a note of surprise in his voice.

"It's your mess. You should be the one to clean it up." Psylocke responded.

"A fair point." Hisao admitted. "Let me know when and where, and I will be there. I must say, you recovered quickly."

"The X-men have a student who can heal wounds."Psylocke replied, "Now if you'll excuse me.." She turned and walked off, giving a nasty look to Hisao as she did so.

Hisao sighed. While he was confident he had made the right decision, the fact his actions had let to the destruction of one the world's original heroes troubled him a great deal. He truly wished there had been some way to save both of them. But there wasn't. Sometimes, there is no third option.

But Hanako was safe. That made up for everything.

Elsewhere...

Hanako took a deep breath and knocked on the door. It flung open. Trevor looked her over and then grabbed her in a massive hug.

"My god Hanako, I was so worried!" Trevor said breathlessly. "I've been calling every contact I have trying to find **someone** who can forstall the plague... are you ok?"

"Yeah Fitz." Hanako replied, "Better than ever, actually."

Trevor released his embrace and chuckled a little. "Thank god..."

"Agreed." Hanako replied, "Do you have a bit? I have something I want to discuss with you..."


	14. 13: Creations

Chapter 13: Creations.

The next few days, life went back to normal. Mostly normal, at least.

"Thanks for agreeing to help me with this." Hisao stated, fiddling with the green box in his hand.

"No problem, Hisao my man." Kenji stated, looking around at Hisao's apartment. "How's things going with that undercover cop of yours?"

Hisao was momentary confused, then remembered Kenji still thought Lilly was working on the police's behest to take the mob down. "Oh, she's good. Making significant strides on her mission. She out right now... uh.. researching possible strategies."

Kenji nodded then stared at the item Hisao retrieved from Genosha, "Good, very good... Hmm... So this is what you found, huh?"

"Yeah," Hisao replied, "It looks like something I saw in a schematic for a energy weapon. It didn't look too complicated, but I don't have the parts. I was wondering..."

"Oh, this is NICE!" Kenji laughed then looked at Hisao, "You probably don't know this, but Celestial tech is adaptive as things get. With one of these, you can make pretty much anything. Energy gun, trans-light drive, time machine... Was there something in particular you wanted to make?"

Hisao paused. "A time machine, really?"

Kenji shrugged, "Well, something on that magnitude usually requires some other components. If you give me a few weeks, I could see what I can get through my sources."

"No, that's okay." Hisao quickly replied, "I was just surprised." he considered his options, "I suppose what I could use right now would be some sort of weapon. One that could take out a superhuman, but not kill them."

Kenji chuckled "Trying to subscribe to that "No killing" rule that's fallen by the wayside in recent years?"

"Not exactly." Hisao replied, "I just..." he sighed. "I'm going to be fighting Angel. The X-man, or former X-man as the case may be. I don't want to kill him, just on the off chance there might be some way to reverse the process. Like with one of those "cosmic cubes" you mentioned."

Kenji paused "Angel, huh? Is that guy a feminist?"

Hisao shrugged, "Not as far as I know, but what almost happened to Hanako happened to him instead."

Kenji blinked. "Ah."

Hisao gave him a quizzical look.

"I hate to break it to you, dude, but Angel's probably too far gone to be saved." Kenji shook his head.

"What do you mean?" Hisao asked.

Kenji sighed "I didn't tell you this last time, because I didn't want you to worry, but... Look, the last time something like this happened, it wasn't Apocalypse who caused it. Have you heard of Illyana Rasputin?"

"Magik? In passing I suppose. Why, did the same thing happen to her?" Hisao asked.

"A similar process, not as severe, but a similar concept." Kenji shook his head, "Long story short,some guy named Belasco kidnapped her and corrupted part of her soul. Not the entire thing, but part of it. The reasons are rather complex."

"Wait, magic?" Hisao pointed out.

"is it really a bigger leap than telepathy or forcefields?" Kenji asked

"I guess not, but Apocalypse used science..." Hisao began.

"There's really not much difference between the two, when you get right down to it." Kenji responded, waving his hand dismissively "Anyway, the X-men were never able to reverse the process."

"Never?" Hisao asked.

"Never." Kenji repeated, "They tried everything. Psionic buffers, mystical shields, technological gimmickry. Nothing worked. Illyana remained with her soul corrupted no matter what they did. They even brought in Doc Strange to help, he couldn't do it either." he sighed, "Magik still has that stain on her essence, seven years later. And that's something she fights against every day of her life. With Angel... if he's really as far gone as I think he is, you can't save him."

Hisao shrugged, "I don't expect to, but I don't want to kill him either."

Kenji nodded , "Fair enough. How is Hanako, by the way?"

Hisao smiled slightly, "Near as I can tell, she's back to normal. Found a life seed, burned the taint right out of her mind."

Kenji paused for a moment, "You got lucky, you know. Very lucky. Cures like that are as rare as finding an ethical politician in your average government..."

Hisao laughed. "Yeah, I did. Had to fight tooth and nail to get it too her, too." he paused briefly, "Anyway, about the weapon. I looked at a couple schematics. I'm probably going to need a couple Luxium-class transistors, about a half dozen Divinium diodes, a Ecelzia monocapacitor, a Brontula transformer, and some kind of casing to hold it all in." He sighed, "Not too hard to build, but the prices are through the root. Ecelzia charges 500 for the monocapacitor I need alone, and the diodes run about seventy apiece."

Kenji shook his head "You actually don't need to buy all that fancy stuff."

"Really?" Hisao asked, "How come?"

"Well, the thing about Celestial tech is that it changes itself to overcome shortcomings in the design of the item you're building. So even if you use inferior parts, you'll get the same result. Now there's a small chance it might take over your body and turn you into a techno-organic hybrid, but whats life without a little risk..." Kenji paused for a moment, "We could actually probably build it with parts I have in my van. Hold on a sec."

Kenji bolted out of the room and returned a few minutes later carrying a bag. Taking a few electric components out he placed them on a nearby table. "Now, if we want to disperse the heat efficiently..."

Three hours later:

"Think it's ready?" Hisao asked.

"You're the scientist, you tell me." Kenji replied.

"No, _you_ tell _me_. You've built stuff like this before, I haven't." Hisao replied and picked up the gun they had built. It was roughly ten inches long and was colored a dark black. Several wires were sticking out of the chassis and the barrel had numerous scratch marks on it. Hisao had painted a small X-men logo on the side. He wasn't quite sure why, being he barely considered himself an X-man at all but at the time it has seemed like the thing to do. "Well, one way to test it out." He stated. He pointed it at the bench the had been working on and fired. A bolt of blue energy blasted out of the barrel and struck the desk, leaving slight charring on the wood.

"Is it supposed to do that?" Hisao asked.

Kenji nodded, "Pretty much. Though I'd advice against firing it randomly like you did. While it won't kill anyone, it could leave some scarring."

Hisao nodded.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.

"You expecting someone?" Kenji asked.

Hisao shook his head, "Not offhand. Maybe Lilly's back, though she said she'd be gone until the evening..." He walked over and opened the door.

X-23 was there. She was dressed in a black top and pants, rather than her usual X-men bikini-like outfit and in her right hand she held a manila folder.

"Laura?" Hisao and Kenji said at the same time.

"Hey there Mentat, Data. Good to see you." She stated.

"Call me Hisao. We're not on a mission- wait..." Hisao turned to Kenji, "Did she just call you Data?"

Kenji chuckled slightly, "Yeah, that was my codename back when I was helping Wolverine and the others with their technological stuff." He shook his head, "Thought it made sense. I was a hacker, so I got information, hence, Data. It didn't go too well."

"Ah." Hisao stated.

"Yeah." Kenji motioned with his hands, "They kept ignoring the glaringly obvious problem that was suffused in every mission we went on."

"The feminists." Hisao guessed.

Kenji nodded, "You understand perfectly. Yeah, AIM, Hydra, Leviathan, the Arim Zola defamation league... they were all subsets of the larger conspiracy hidden beneath the surface. If we took out the root cause, we could shatter every terrorist organization simultaneously, yet the others didn't see it that way."

"So, you and her go way back?" Hisao asked, trying to change topics.

"In a way." X-23 replied, "The facility sent me to kill him."

If Hisao was going to pick the least likely answer to the question he had asked, that probably would have been it.

"Ah..." He stated, not sure what to say.

"Yeah," Kenji said. "After breaching one of the facility's servers, they caught wind of me and sent her to take me out. Took out... what was it, thirty SHIELD agents?"

"Forty seven." X-23 replied and sighed, "One of the last missions I was sent on before I escaped from their control. He got lucky though, Iron Man showed up at the last minute and got him to safety."

Hisao looked at X-23, then at Kenji, "And you don't..." He began, but wasn't quite sure how to phrase it.

"Blame her?" Kenji suggested. Hisao nodded. "Nah, I don't blame her." Kenji shook his head, "She was a victim of circumstance, much like Hanako." He then paused. "Funny thing... Stark said that I had "better be worth it." which is part of why I worked so hard to find the root cause of the problems. Yet I got kicked out just a few months later." He shrugged. "I don't get it. I worked my ass off."

"That's because there is no feminist conspiracy." X-23 stated, "You're simply not right in the head."

Hisao stared at Kenji. This was probably the first time he had seen someone straight up tell Kenji he was delusional, and he was actually fairly curious as to what his reaction would be.

Kenji merely shook his head. "Well, you're a woman, so you would never admit to that. Of course there's a feminist conspiracy. I mean, why else would there be a hundred women in Japan to ninety five men? Or how about the fact that out of the six people typically on your team, only one is a man? I have strong suspicions your branch of the X-corp is being infiltrated-"

"First of all, we now have two men on base." X-23 replied, sounding somewhat exasperated, "Three if Hisao stays on. Second, just because there are more women being born than men, that doesn't mean they're coordinated. By and large, conspiracies that involve more than a dozen people or so are extremely difficult to keep contained, especially in a world full of telepaths, sorcerers, and investigative reporters. Suggesting that millions of women are-"

"Anyway." Hisao interrupted and sighed, "I take it you came here about the writing?"

"Pardon?" Kenji asked.

"Hisao offered to look over some stuff I wrote." X-23 replied. She sighed and held out the folder. Hisao took it and flipped it open. A fairly substantial document lay inside.

"The Medium and the Message." Hisao read the title.

"I based it off one of our trips to the Mojoverse." X-23 said, sounding slightly embarrassed, "I made up new characters but the events that happened are pretty much the same."

Hisao nodded and sat down on the couch, then turned to Kenji, "This might take me a bit." he stated.

Kenji shrugged, "Fair enough. I'll get going then. Need to help Yuuko move into her new apartment."

"Yuuko?" Hisao stated then remembered something, "Oh, right, she got resurrected, didn't she? My life has gotten so bizarre as of late..."

"Yeah." Kenji nodded, "We finally finished the paperwork to have her reinstated as "alive" in the various systems, and now we're trying to get her a job." He shrugged, "In the meantime, I'm supporting her."

"That's nice of you." X-23 stated.

Kenji chuckled, "Well, yeah. To be honest, she's one of the better women I have known. Pretty clever too. She tried to build a feminist detection machine using my life energy. It didn't work, but I appreciate the effort."

Hisao raised an eyebrow.

Kenji shrugged, "I'll see you later then." he stated, then exited Hisao's apartment.

Once he was gone, Hisao turned to X-23, "Just so you know, trying to explain things like you did to Kenji doesn't really work."

X-23 shrugged, "Well, what would you suggest, then? The guy's nuts."

Hisao sighed, "Well, yes, he is. But I've found the best way to reason with him is to come up with an explanation as ridiculous as the stuff he says. He has a very... the best way I can describe it is that his mind operates in binary. Either someone is a feminist, and therefore an enemy, or not a feminist, and thus a potential ally."

X-23 paused.

"He trusts me." Hisao stated, "More than he realistically should, and I've been able to convince him that the friends I have are potential allies, rather than feminists. That's why he doesn't flip out when he sees Lilly at this point. I convinced him she's on his side. Same with the others."

"And how did you convince him?" X-23 asked.

"In my case, he trusts me enough so that my word was good enough to convince him." Hisao thought for a moment, "From what I've experienced with watching him, the trick is to explain things in a way that conforms to his expectations. Rather than saying there is no conspiracy, instead explain that the conspiracy is slightly different than what he has assumed."

"I see..." X-23 replied. "Has he ever taken medication?"

"From what he's told me, he views psychotropic meds as a form of mind control." Hisao said, then added, "Which, in a way, they kind of are." He pulled X-23's manuscript out of the folder looked it over. "This might take me a few hours, so make yourself comfortable."

X-23 nodded and pulled up a chair.

It was a couple hours before Hisao finished the document. "Is this really based on true events?" He asked, "A planet of spineless ones, gladiators genetically engineered to fight to the death on TV, infant versions of superheros... did those really happen?"

"Yes, they did." X-23 replied.

Hisao shook his head, "And I thought the superhero life was surreal already... But aside from that." he scratched his chin thoughtfully, "You have some good points. Your pacing is good, your descriptions are excellent, your dialog is witty."

X-23 nodded, Hisao sighed, "There is however a couple major issues. A lot of your characters seem rather interchangeable. You need to work on giving them their own "voice.""

"Ah. I see. How do I do that?" X-23 asked

Hisao thought for a moment, "Well, it gets easier with practice. Is this the only thing you've written?"

"The only think I have more than about ten pages down on." X-23 responded.

"Well, I'd suggest writing more." Hisao stated, "Every day if possible, or at least when you can. In addition, it helps if you get "inside" the characters heads. Figure out what makes them tick. One way to do that would be to think of various situations, such as a parade or a vacation or something else, and figure out how any specific character would respond to that. If you have trouble with that, think of how the other X-men would respond. I'm sure Psylocke would respond differently to a parade than Colossus or Storm."

X-23 nodded. "I see."

"Second problem is, and I mean no offense by this, your grasp on spelling and grammar is... weak." Hisao stated and sighed. "Now, I've only known English for a couple months, but even I can tell you need improvement on that area. You continually confuse homonyms, you split infinitives repeatedly, you get your tenses confused..." He paused. "I'd recommend enrolling in some courses and seeing if you can find a copy editor."

X-23 nodded.

"You have definite potential." Hisao stated, "If you keep this up, you could probably make some pretty good stories."

Meanwhile...

As Hanako walked down the street, she felt her face unconsciously. For the first time in months, she felt like she was back to normal. She remembered everything that had happened, yes, but now she felt like she could work through it. That she could take charge of her life once again.

As she approached the X-corp building, she took a deep breath and steeled her resolve, then went inside. As she entered, she noticed Armor sitting behind the front desk, right next to Misha. Armor was typing furiously on the computer, while Misha was writing quick notes on sheets of paper. Every few seconds Misha would hand one of the papers to Armor, who set it underneath a stack of similar pieces.

Armor glanced up. Hanako noticed a faint look of surprise cross her face, only for her to quickly suppress it and replace it with a look of anger.

"What are _you_ doing here?" Armor stated unpleasantly.

"I..." Hanako stated, a tad taken aback.

Misha glanced up. "Hanako?" she said, clearly surprised, then turned to Armor, "Come on Armor, be nice."

"Be _nice_?" Armor stated, "It's her fault we lost Angel."

"I'm... sorry?" Hanako asked, "I don't understand."

Armor grunted in a disgusted fashion, "What, did Mentat not tell you?"

There was a pause, Armor shook her head, "Figures. Look, you weren't the only person going through what you did. You know Angel? Big wings made out of metal, blue skin, one of the five original X-men? He went through the same thing."

Hanako opened her mouth, but Armor continued,

"Your friend stole the cure we were going to use on him, and used it on you instead." Armor said, seething with rage. "You survived, he lost his mind. And let me tell you, you weren't worth it." She lowered her head and went back to typing on the computer.

"It's good to see you again!" Misha replied as cheerful as she usually was. "Don't mind her, she's just mad at Hisao. Not you."

Hanako nodded, "Should I come back some other time?" She asked. "I don't mean to cause any trouble."

"You're no trouble at all." Misha stated, "What did you need?"

Hanako fidgeted slightly. "I was hoping..." She paused and sighed, "I was wondering if you and Shizune could train me in combat."

At that Armor stopped typing in mid sentence. "You WHAT?" She stated in disbelief.

Hanako sighed and fidgeted some more, "I want to be prepared. Maybe if I had been able to fight when Apocalypse had come through my window, I could have avoided all this, or maybe not. But..." she sighed, "I don't know how to fight yet. I got lucky this time and avoided any major damage, but in case anything like this happens again, I want to be ready."

"Wahahaha!" Misha laughed, "That's great Hanako! I'd love to have you around-"

"You've got to be kidding me!" Armor snapped, "She gets in trouble, winds up costing the sanity of one of the original x-men, and now you want to let her in the team?"

"Do you really think she's done anything wrong?" Misha asked, "Mentat was the one who took the seed, X-23 was the one who stabbed Psylocke. What has Hanako done, aside from wanting to stay alive?"

"She was the one who put Mentat up to that! If she had just laid down and died..." Armor sighed, "Angel would still be around." Hanako flinched slightly at that.

"Armor, take a break." A voice said from a back hallway, "You too Hardhead. I'll handle this." Psylocke walked from around a corner and stared at Hanako.

Armor gave Hanako a dirty look, but got up from the desk and stormed off. Misha grinned sheepishly and walked out a side door, glancing back as she exited.

Psylocke looked Hanako up and down and sighed, "Logan's going to be another week or so, so I'm in charge. Anyway... I'm going assume you're the girl who Hisao barreled out an airplane at twenty thousand meters for." she stated. Her voice was level, not showing any emotion.

"He did that?" Hanako asked.

Psylocke nodded. "Yes. He did. He also suffered at least one heart attack, helped fight five of the deadliest henchmen the X-men have ever known without any combat training, and got X-23 to stab me in the back. All for you."

Hanako opened her mouth, but was honestly unsure of what to say.

"Hisao is dedicated to you." Psylocke continued, "Moreso than even most of the X-men are dedicated to each other. Being willing to give up your life for someone is one thing, deliberately going into situations you probably won't survive, when more competent folks are available to take the mission is another." she paused and added, "When we first went out, I half-thought he would get himself killed. "

Hanako eyes widened, "I didn't know... I shouldn't have..."

"Be that as it may," Psylocke stated, "He did. And your survival at the cost of my ex's is the result." Her eyes narrowed, "Which is why I want to know something. Are you worth it?"

Hanako blinked and looked down. "I just want some self-defense lessons..." she mumbled.

Psylocke chuckled, "I'm a telepath, Hanako. I can see right in your mind even if you won't admit it. You came here because you wanted to join up with us. You want to prove your worth."

Hanako's mouth opened, then closed. She looked down at her feet, then nodded weakly.

"I'm just so tired of people fighting my battles for me..." she said softly.

"Perfectly understandable." Psylocke replied, "Hisao told me a lot about you. Uneasy around others, hates being protected, wants to be seen as an equal." She gave a slight smile. "If I were in your position, I'd do whatever it took so that what happened to you would never happen again. Matter of fact, I was in your position. Early in my career I was the weakest member on the team."

"Right..." Hanako replied, and nodded.

"Frankly, I'm glad you decided to take the step." Psylocke replied, "Both because we could use someone who can create forcefields on the team and because anyone who can inspire that kind of dedication in a guy like Hisao is someone I'd like to get to know. But let me ask you again. Are you worth it?"

Hanako hesitated, then nodded. "Yes, I am." she said, with a bit more confidence than before.

Psylocke gave a smile, "I can tell you already picked out a codename."

Hanako blinked and fidgeted slightly, "Call me Survivor."


	15. 14: Preperations

Chapter 14: Preperations.

As Psylocke led Hanako down one of the hallways in the X-corp building, she stopped at a closet and opened it. Pulling out a black leathersuit with purple highlights as well as black gloves and boots, she handed the ensemble to Hanako.

"This'll be your uniform for the time being." Psylocke stated.

Hanako held up the suit, "It looks a lot like Misha's." She remarked.

Psylocke shrugged, "The junior recruits typically get a standard uniform for the first year or so. Unstable molecules are extremely hard to fashion around a nanotube array so we have to make sure whoever is wearing it is in it for the long term before we get them a custom outfit. We have two designs, one for men one for women. Beyond that they only differ in the color of the highlights." Psylocke paused, "Thought considering Shizune's drive, we might move it up in her case."

"Really?" Hanako asked.

Psylocke nodded, "She's worked her ass off ever since she got here. Her danger room track record is exceptional. In fact, she's making faster progress than two thirds of the X-men to ever join up. And she spends almost all her free time studying the metahuman database. Not like her girlfriend... "

Hanako raised an eyebrow, "What about her girlfriend?"

Psylocke sighed, "Misha's motivated, yes. Not as much as Shizune, but she's motivated too. Problem is, she's also immature, irresponsible and reckless. She's barely read any of the files and seems to be in this lifestyle more for kicks than anything else. She doesn't take our business seriously." Psylocke paused for a moment and added, "If it wasn't for the fact she and Shizune come as a pair, I'd put her on the reserves." Psylocke then stared straight at Hanako, "If you're going to do this, you need to be better than her. Log plenty of hours in the danger room, keep a constant watch for potential problems, and most importantly read the damn files. Yes, its over a thousand pages long, but every bit is important. Knowing the history of what you're up against can save your life, or the lives of your teammates. Got it?"

"I'll give it a shot." Hanako replied

"Thats good." Psylocke stated. "Go change and then I'll show you to the others."

Hanako nodded and headed into the restroom. Shifting uncomfortably, and making sure nobody was around, she took off the blouse and skirt she was wearing and putting on the leathersuit, she looked in the mirror and gave a disgusted look.

"I look hideous..." She mumbled and shook her head vigorously.

She walked out and rejoined Psylocke in the hallway. "How bad do I look?" She asked

"You don't look bad, Hanako." Psylocke responded.

"No, seriously. I do." Hanako replied, "I look like something out of an Ian Fleming novel."

Psylocke sighed, "Forge just never was one of the most fashion conscientious X-men..."

Hanako looked down at herself and shook her head again. "Do I have to wear this?"

"Well, yes." Psylocke responded. "ordinary clothes would shred or burn under the kind of situations we face. So unless you want to wind up naked in the middle of fighting a supervillian..."

Hanako visibly recoiled."O-okay. I g-get what you're saying." She stammered out.

Psylocke chuckled, "Just teasing you. Well, sort of. Out of curiosity, are any of your other friends going to join up?"

Hanako paused for a moment to collect herself, and thought. "Lilly's not the type to join in a firefight, so she probably won't. Emi might, she's quite active so a lifestyle like this might suit her. Rin, I honestly have no idea. She's a good person, but I don't really understand her most of the time, and her personality is hard to get a lock on. Kenji probably would, considering he's the one who introduced us to superpowers to begin with."

"I think Wolverine would sooner cut Kenji in half before letting him onto this kind of team again." Psylocke responded.

"How come?" Hanako asked.

Psylocke sighed, "While back Kenji's talents were hacking were discovered after he broke into the Fantastic Four's files. Since hackers on his caliber are hard to come by, Mr Fantastic decided to hire him as the superhero communities resident data-monger. Ir worked for about a year, until his schizophrenia manifested."

"Is that's whats wrong with him?" Hanako asked.

"Near as Doc Samson could figure out, yes." Psylocke shook her head, "We tried to get him on medication, but he wouldn't take it and since he wasn't actively violent we couldn't legally force the issue. His behavior became increasingly erratic."

"Like he is now?" Hanako asked

"Indeed." Psylocke sighed "Then on one particularly bad mission, his distorted view of reality led him to to tell a team of X-men, myself included, there was a world-endangering feminist conspiracy with its leaders hidden in this old steamship..." She shook head in annoyance, "We went in to humor him and wound up unleashing the Children of the Vault."

"The who?" Hanako asked. From context, she was able to guess Forge was the tech designer and Doc Samson was Kenji's psychiatrist, but she couldn't even guess who these others were.

"A species of human variants with some of the most powerful technology to have ever existed. They were isolationist in the extreme, so if we had just left them alone, they never would have bothered us." Psylocke sighed, "As it is, they realized they had been found, so they tried to kill us all. Came damn close too. We barely escaped, and since then they've attempted to destroy mutantkind numerous times. Theres a lot of bad blood between Kenji and the X-men, particularly those of us who were on that mission."

"I'm sure he didn't mean it." Hanako pointed out.

"Of course he didn't mean it, but the last thing we need is yet _another_ civilization of superpowered whackjobs trying to wipe us all out." Psylocke rolled her eyes and started walking off, Hanako followed.

She walked down the hall and reached a keypad on an iron door. Tapping a code into it, the door opened to show a field where a major battle had taken place. The parts of numerous robots were strewn around a city landscape. Armor, Shizune, Misha and Nate Grey were standing in the rubble.

"I got twenty two." Armor stated, "How did you do?"

"Seventeen" Misha replied, "Voidstar says she got twenty five. How about you, Mindblast?"

Nate sighed, "I really need a better codename...Anyway, I think I got around thirty five or so." His eye flashed with light, then he glanced over at Psylocke "Oh, hey there." he stated. The other three turned to Psylocke and Hanako.

"Hanako!" Misha cried out, "You're joining up after all, right?"

"Yes. She is." Psylocke stated, "She'll go by the name Survivor when on mission. I need you four to train with her, especially you, Voidstar."

Shizune grinned and nodded, then made several signs with her hands.,

"She said she'll be happy to help, and that she's very glad you're letting her join us." Misha stated, grinning.

"Psylocke..." Armor began, "With all due respect, have you lost your mind? Considering it's her fault Angel's insane-"

"Armor." Psylocke stated, "It is not her fault. Mentat's fault, yes. X-23's fault, quite likely. A case could even be made of it being my own fault. But all Survivor has done the past few days is sit in a bed and pray."

Armor glared at Hanako, "And you're asking Voidstar to train her instead of me, why exactly? I am the senior member."

"Two reasons." Psylocke responded, "First, unlike Voidstar, you barely know her. Second, despite barely knowing her, you seem to resent her a great deal."

Armor grunted in irritation. Psylocke gave her an annoyed look.

"I don't know what your problem is." Psylocke stated, "But you need to get over it, fast. My ex is out there plotting something disastrous for humanity and we're going to need all the help we can get to take him down. The last thing we need at a time like this is internal conflict on the team, so take your grudge and bury it. That's an order."

"Yes ma'am." Armor stated, though her eyes were still shooting daggers at Hanako.

Psylocke nodded, "Computer," she stated, "Reset simulation to level one and run on my mark." She then turned to Hanako, "The best way to learn is by doing. In this program, robots will appear and you should try to disable as many as you can during the time limit through whatever means you have at your disposal. Got it?"

Hanako nodded.

"Begin program in ten" Psylocke commanded and walked out the door to the danger room.

Hanako braced herself. In moments, a series of training robots appeared in front of each of the X-men and began firing energy blasts. Hanako instinctively raised her force field and one of the blasts dispersed again the barrier. She reached out and trapped one of the robots in a field and began to crush it. It proved notably easier than when she had crushed the Chronomancer's armor, and as it shattered, she turned her attention to another, only to feel a nasty zap on back of her leg as a painful electric jolt ran up and down it. She continued to fight, but her eyes traced to the others. Nate, in particular. He was emitting large bursts of power at a near constant rate, destroying everything that came near him. Nothing was even getting close.

A mechanical voice stated "Time is up." and the simulation disappeared.

"How'd you do?" Misha asked.

Hanako shrugged, "I think I got about seven..."

"Is that all?" Armor scoffed.

Misha gave an annoyed look, "This is her first time, give her a break! I only got nine my first run through of this program."

Shizune made a couple signs with her hands. "Try again?" Misha translated.

Hanako nodded.

"Repeat program" Misha stated, and the city landscape reappeared.

The second runthrough of the program began much like the first, with Hanako trying with some measure of success to simultaneously raise a shield and crush robots with her telekinetic fist at the same time. However, all of a sudden, after about three minutes, Nate Grey collapsed.

"Mindblast!" Misha cried.

"Computer, end program!" Armor stated and rushed over to him. As the simulation disappeared, she began checking his vitals. "Pulse is strong, pupils are responsive..."

"I'm alright..." Nate mumbled, "Just felt extremely weak for a moment there..."

"We'd better get you up to med bay." Misha stated to several signs Shizune made.

"Yeah... yeah, alright..." He mumbled and slowly got up and out the door. The others followed.

**Forty minutes later...**

"Nate..." Psylocke said softly to the teenager hooked up to a half dozen different contraptions. "I have some really bad news."

Nate winced. "And what's that?"

She motioned to a series of readouts on a computer monitor. "You're power level is immense. Quite possibly the greatest I have seen in any mutant I have ever met. Theoretically, you could surpass Pheonix. Thing is..." she sighed.

"What?" Nate asked.

"It's burning you out. There's no other way to put it." Psylocke shook her head. "Near as I can tell, Sinister put some kind of failsafe in you that is causing your body to overload from your power. Eventually, it's going to result in your nervous system short circuiting, which will prove fatal."

Nate was silent for a moment as this information sunk in. "How long?" he asked

Psylocke did some quick figuring, "I'm guessing between three and five years."

"Is that all? Fuck..." Nate mumbled and tore the wires connected from his body, then he put his face in his hands. He then glanced to the door, where outside the others were waiting. "Do the others have to know?" he asked

Psylocke paused, "Not if you don't want them to. Is there a reason you would rather keep this private?"

"Because I don't want them treating me different than they have been." Nate replied.

"Very well." Psylocke stated. Then she paused, "It is a rather heavy burden to carry by yourself though. If I may make a suggestion..."

"Yes?" Nate asked.

Psylocke hesitated but continued, "I would suggest you confide in Hisao. He went through pretty much the exact thing you're going through."

Nate raised an eye. "Really? I'll give that some consideration then." He got up from the chair he was sitting in and walked out.

"Is everything alright?" Misha asked as he went into the hallway.

"Pretty much." Nate stated, "I just can't use too much power at once or my cells overload, thats all."

He then walked off. Misha considered following for a moment, but Shizune tugged on her arm and shook her head.

[Leave him be Misha. Trust me on this.] The blue haired girl signed.

Misha nodded.

For two weeks, Hisao had no contact with Psylocke and then one day, out of the blue, he received a telepathic alert.

"_This is a message to all current members of X-corp Tokyo._" It stated. "_There has been an update on the Angel front. Assemble in the briefing room in thirty minutes._"

Hisao was only two miles out at the time, changed outfits in five minutes and reached the headquarters in ten. To his surprise, as he exited his car, carrying the neural disruptor he had made, Hanako was walking up the street in an X-men uniform.

"Hanako, why are you here?" He asked, his mind trying to process the scene in front of him.

Hanako blushed slightly from her friend seeing her in her outfit. "Same reason you are." she replied.

Hisao's brain twisted into knots at that statement. "I... you... what..." he stammered, "You joined up?"

Hanako nodded.

"But... why?" Hisao asked.

"Because I don't want other people to fight my battles for me anymore. I talked to Fitzroy and we spent a long time discussing this subject. About what has happen, what is happening, what likely will happen..." Hanako replied.

"But this lifestyle is so dangerous," Hisao stated, "I mean, you could get killed!"

"So could you." Hanako replied, "But that didn't stop you. It's not going to stop me either," she paused and then added, "My life came at the expense of Angel's sanity. The least I can do is honor his memory."

Hisao was silent for a moment. "Is this what you want?" he finally asked, "To be a superhero?"

"I don't know if its what I want so much as what I need." Hanako replied, "Things are different because of our powers. Your heart, Lilly's vision, my face..." She brushed her bangs self-consciously, "Four months ago we thought they would remain the same as they always have, but they didn't. Our lives are changing. Drastically. It's best we learn to adapt."

Hisao nodded. "I suppose you have a point. Still not what I envision for myself though."

Hanako motioned to the gun in his hand, "What's that?" she asked.

"It's like a stun gun." Hisao replied, "But more powerful." He shook his head, "Telepathy isn't the greatest offensive power, so I'm improvising."

"It's good you're doing so!" another voice piped up behind him. He turned to see Shizune and Misha walking up beside him. Misha grinned "Preparation is always key to successful mission!"

[_Funny that you're the one saying that..._] Shizune thought and signed, and Hisao noticed her rolling her eyes. [_In any case, we'd best get inside._]

The four of them entered the headquarters and made their way down to the briefing room. They entered to find Psylocke, X-23, Armor and Nate Grey sitting at a table.

[_Is Wolverine still busy?_] Shizune asked

"The business in the Kree Galaxy is taking longer than expected." Psylocke replied, "He says he will return in a few days. Unfortunately, we do not have a few days." She shook her head. "Pity, we could use his help."

"We've got eight people-" Misha began.

"And we're going to be hard pressed with that few." Psylocke cut her off. "There was an attack at Project PEAGUSUS today. Angel, as well as his apparent new ally, Holocaust."

A look of fear flickered past Shizune's face. Hisao blinked,

"Holocaust?" he said, "He took his codename after-"

[_Yes, he did._] Shizune stated telepathically and in sign [_Which pretty well falls into the category of 'names to run away from really really fast."_]

"Who's this 'Holocaust'?" Nate asked.

"He is the unholy love child of Autumn Rolfson, better known as the first Famine," Armor stated, "And Apocalypse himself. He is one of the most powerful mutants the X-men have ever fought. Power set includes being sentient energy in a night indestructible containment suit, blasts of nuclear fire that put the Human Torch's to shame, and the ability to drain your lifeforce just by being near you."

"Like Omega Red did?" Hisao asked, wincing at the memory of that fight.

"Essentially." Armor stated, "Though he doesn't use that as much as he prefers the physical sensation of blasting someone into atoms. Nasty piece of work. Enjoys wanton destruction more than any of the horsemen. Possibly more than his father as well."

"I thought he died after that incident with Jamie Braddock?" X-23 asked.

"Apparently it didn't stick." Psylocke stated, "He and Angel entered Project PEAGUSUS and decimated the staff. Over a hundred and fifty dead. The only survivor was their security head Darkhawk, and he's been beaten within an inch of his life."

"Do we know why he broke into the faculty?" Hanako asked

Psylocke reached under the table and took out a large manila folder and flipped it open to reveal a detailed schemetic "He took this device, know as project DESTINI. Deep Earth Seismic Trigger INItiative."

Hisao picked up the files and quickly flipped through them.

"It's pretty much what the name implies." Psylocke stated, "Can trigger earthquakes at almost any point in the globe. There are a hundred ways he could use it to wreck havoc, but we don't know what his plans are or where he's going or-"

"I know where he's going." Hisao stated.

Seven pairs of eyes immediately turned in Hisao's general direction.

"Really?" Armor said, disbelieving.

Hisao sighed, "Apocayplse's schtick is "the strong will survive", right? He wants to wipe out humanity to pave room for mutants and yadda yadda yadda..." Hisao waved his hand, "There's many places Angel could use this machine to create damage, pretty much any major fault line really. But there's one place specifically where a trigger such as this could cause whats essentially an extinction event."

X-23 raised an eyebrow, "Where might that be?" she asked

Hisao took a deep breath, "He's going to blow the caldera under Yellowstone."


	16. 15: Last Chance To Save The World

Chapter 15: Last Chance to Save the World

"There's a volcano under Yellowstone?" X-23 asked, sounding slightly surprised.

"That's an understatement." Hisao made a sweeping motion with his hands, "It's the largest supervolcano on the planet. The dominant features are something like fifty kilometers by seventy or so. It's huge."

"What happens if it erupts?" Armor asked.

"Well, for starters the explosion alone would make Hiroshima look like a wet firecracker. When Mount Saint Helens erupted back in 1980, it had a force of roughly six and a half megatons, roughly..." Hisao did some quick figuring "five hundred times the blast of "Little Boy". If Yellowstone blows, it would be three orders of magnitude greater than that, far greater than any other explosion in human history. And that's just the beginning."

"Seriously?" Hanako asked

"Unfortunately, yes. The ash released would cover everything within a thousand miles to a depth of about ten feet, burying several states in much the matter of Pompeii. The toxic air emitted would likely make most of North America uninhabitable for years to come, but the worst is that the ash and the air combined would probably destroy any sort of weather patterns the world might have." Hisao sighed, "Best case, we'd be looking at another ice age. Worst case, the extinction of all life on the planet."

"You seem to know a lot about this." Armor remarked.

"It was used as a plot point in "Warehouse 13." Hisao replied, "I was surprised by the concept and did some research afterwards."

"In any case, we leave immediately." Psylocke stated. "Once we're in the air, I'll radio the Institute and attempt to summon as much backup as possible. Now move it, people!"

The eight of them hurried out to the blackbird, as Hisao fell in line he glanced through the schematic.

"When did you say Angel took the device?" he asked

"Roughly three hours ago." Psylocke stated.

Hisao sat down in the Blackbird's seat and flipped through the device's specifications. "The good news is, we might have time to stop it."

"Yeah?" Misha asked.

"This device would require a substantial amount of power to trigger a quake large enough to breach the volcano. And to gather that power it would have to charge for several hours. If we hurry, we can probably shatter the device before it reached that level." Hisao gave a grim smile.

After a few minutes, Psylocke turned back to the others, "The other teams are going to be a bit. The Red team is handling some lunatic hijacking nuclear weapons in Britain, The Gold team is dealing with some holes in reality in Russia, and the Blue team doesn't have a long range teleporter. They said they'd be here as fast as they can from their last mission in Iceland, but I'm not optimistic.

"What about the Avengers?" Hisao asked, "Or the Fantastic Four?"

"In the Kree Galaxy and Negative Zone, respectively." Betsy sighed. "Some of the other X-corps branches are on their way, but we're going to be the first to arrive."

"Could Trevor have teleported us?" Misha suddenly asked Hanako.

Hanako shook her head, "Too many people over too great a distance.."

"Pity Rin's range is only a half dozen miles..." Hisao muttered, then sighed. "Let's see... if he stole the device at one, and he reached Yellowstone an hour after... assuming energy flow of a thousand petwatts..." he did some figuring, "It's going to be close."

As the Blackbird tore through the sky. Hisao was startled by Nate Grey's voice inside his mind.

"_I need to ask you something._" The teenager stated mentally, "_And don't tell the others_."

"_This is kind of a bad time, don't you think?_" Hisao thought back.

"_It's important, at least, to me. And there's not much else we can do for the next forty minutes, is there?_" Nate's mental tone was rather urgent.

"_Very well, Go ahead._" Hisao replied

"_You had a terminal illness at one point, correct?_" Nate thought.

Hisao gave him a funny look, "_I wouldn't go that far. I always figured I'd have a lifespan significantly shorter than most peoples, but it's not like I was going to die in six months or anything_."

"_Ah_." Nate stated.

"_What brought this on, Nate? That's not the kind of thing you usually ask the second time you meet with someone_" Hisao asked.

Nate shifted uncomfortably in his seat, "_Don't tell anyone ok_?"

"_Alright._" Hisao responded.

"_My powers are killing me. Burning me out. I have just a few years to live._" Nate sighed.

Hisao was a tad taken aback, "_I'm... sorry to hear that._"

"_I don't want 'sorry' Hisao._" Nate thought firmly, "_I don't want to be an object of pity._"

"_Oh_." Hisao thought back.

"_But to the point, I want to know. How did you deal with whatever you had?"_

"_My arrhythmia?_" Hisao thought, and then hesitated, "_I suppose my trick was to find something, or someone, to live for. Lilly and Hanako, mainly, but also my other friends. If you enjoy the time you have, and avoid having any major regrets about the past, the length of time you life doesn't really matter. At least, that's what I learned_."

Nate nodded and sighed, "_I suppose that's a good way to live_."

"_Keep in mind to that a cure might pop up where you least expect it._" Hisao added, "_I mean, the absolute last thing I would have expected four years ago was that I'd wind up with a healing factor that makes my issue moot. Who knows, maybe you'll get a genetic brand or what have you that fixes your problem_."

"_Perhaps._.." Nate thought back and then stared out the window.

**Shortly...**

"We're getting close." Psylocke stated, "Get ready everyone. Mentat, disarm the device. The rest of you take on Holocaust. I'll handle Angel."

"Can't you help us against Holocaust? Isn't he the bigger danger?" Misha asked

Psylocke shook her head, "My powers are psionic. Holocaust's armor has psychic shielding. And I have to...finish this. It's personal, you understand."

"You're going to face Angel _alone_?" Hisao asked.

"With this, I won't need help." Psylocke reached down to the floor and lifted a long katana with one hand. It had a blood red hilt and was encased in a similarly colored sheath.

"A sword." Nate stated flatly.

[_That's not just a sword_] Shizune thought and signed [_That's the Muramasa blade. Am I the only one who reads the files?_]

"Muramasa?" Hisao asked, "As in, the Muromachi period swordsmith whose blades are said to instill bloodlust in those who wield them?

"That was its maker yes." X-23 stated. "Make for Wolverine, and actually fashioned out of a piece of his soul. In addition to it having a virtually monomolecular edge, it also shorts out the healing factor of anyone who is struck by it."

Hisao visibly flinched at the thought.

"It was left in my care by Wolverine in case he ever went truly berserk" Psylocke stated bluntly, "But it will be extremely useful here. Angel's healing factor is otherwise extraordinary, stronger than yours."

"I just thought of something." Hanako stated "If the caldera is fifty km by seventy, how are we going to find them? That's an awful lot of ground to cover."

"We'll have to do overland scans of the area." Psyclocke stated.

"No, no need." Nate stated. "I can tell you where they are."

"Your telepathy is that advanced?" Hisao asked.

Nate nodded, "More than. They're three kilometers north of us and two west. Right by a bend in the river."

"Good." Psylocke stated "Approaching in ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two. One."

"I see them." Misha motioned out the window.

Hisao turned to look. Angel could be seen on the ground, his silver wings glinting in the sunlight. Next to him stood an imposing figure over ten feet tall. It appeared as a suit of armor fashioned out of clear crystal, the inside filled with a orange flame. The skeleton of a man could be barely seen within and the left arm terminated into a massive plasma cannon. A few yards away, a large grey box with a massive silver diamond protruding from the top was emitting flashes of light.

"Alright everyone. The moment we land, hit them hard and fast." Psylocke stated.

The blackbird screeched as it slammed into the ground and drove itself to a stop.

"GO!" Psylocke shouted and they ran out of the plane.

The eight of them stormed out. As they did, Holocaust took notice and barreled toward the team, making large strides with his crystalline legs. He raised his cannon and emitted a blast of atomic flame. Hanako, on reflex, raised a force field between the team and the hulking figure.

...it broke under the blast. Hanako yelped in pain as psionic feedback surged through her mind.

Psylocke broke off from the group and made a beeline toward Angel, who whirled around and emitted a swarm of darts from his wings. Psylocke dodged them with practiced ease.

"Greetings Elizabeth." The winged man said, "I must say, your choice of companions has certainly worsened over the years."

"Warren..." Psylocke stated angrily, "I will never forgive myself for failing you."

"Failing me?" Angel laughed and fired another rain of projectiles, 'My dear Betsy, I have grown far beyond anything you could ever imagine. Meanwhile you run around with the most worthless of subjects."

Psylocke glared at her former ally, who chuckled.

"Take the man in the green, for example. His heart would kill him in moments if he took a substantial impact to the chest. Such a liability you know? It would be better for everyone if he simply died."

"Not going to happen." Psylocke replied, "Mentat's an ally. Despite what he has done, he's still an X-man. His determination has earned him that title"

"Or how about that girl with the glasses?" Angel fired another wave of darts, "Her ears have long since been broken and she has forgotten how to speak. Such a waste. There is no place for her in the new world to come Or her friend? With the mediocre intellect? A stupider cow I have never seen. Or the burned one. She could have been the heir to Apocalypse's empire, yet rejected it. Pitiful, all of them." His mouth twisted into a maniacal grin, his voice crackling with glee.

"Shut up." Psylocke stated, anger rising in her voice.

"Do you know why my master healed her scars?" Angel laughed, "Apocalypse wanted her to rule with him. She would be a perfect prelate for the new order to come. And yet she spurned him,Such a fool."

Psylocke paused briefly, then drew the Muramasa blade.

"Warren." She said, her voice barely above a whisper, "I'm sorry."

Holocaust quickly reached the seven other X-men and fired a blast of fire. Hanako threw up another shield, trying desperately to ignore the pounding in her head. This one held, but only barely.

Misha pulled out her railgun and dialed it to the maximum setting, then fired it at the figure. A massive cloud of dust and debris exploded as a bullet slammed into the armor at a significant fraction of lightspeed. For a moment, dust hung in the air thickly, but it quickly cleared and holocaust came back into view.

Shizune fired a massive energy discharge, only for it to be quickly absorbed, while at the same time X-23 unsheathed her claws and lunged at the figure, with Armor forming her shielding and doing the same. Holocaust grabbed Armor with one hand and threw her to the ground, while at the same time blasting X-23 with fire. She fell to the ground, most of the skin burned of her face, though it was quickly repairing itself.

"WEAKLINGS." Holocause stated, his voice like gravel, "I SHALL TEAR YOU APART."

"Mentat, get to the device." Nate stated, "I'll cover you." He levitated above the ground for a moment, and then slammed into Holocaust with astounding force. The hulking figure was knocked back several feet from the impact.

Hisao winced, but ignoring his instinct to help, ran past the battle to the grey box that was standing.

Psylocke dodged a hail of projectiles and lunged at Angel with the blade, only for the man to fly into the air several meters above her reach. Psylocke growled and resheathed the blade, then leapt on the a nearby tree and climbed as fast as she could.

Angel laughed, "Do you really think you can stop me? I am evolution itself."

Psylocke lept of the tree and grappled Angel by his legs. The added weight startled the winged man, and with one smooth motion, Psylocke pulled out the blade and swung it. It sliced into Angel's left wing, cutting it off near the arm. Angel screamed and started falling, only for Psylocke to lose her grip and plunge as well.

Holocaust emitted a blast of fire, only for it to be stopped by a telekinetic force. Nate then punched Holocaust, who staggered back. Nate them summoned a hail of psionic spikes that swarmed out of his hands and flew into the armored figure.

"IMPRESSIVE" Holocaust spoke. His voice was thick and gravelly. "EVEN FOR A MUTANT."

"Yeah?" Nate replied, "You haven't seen anything yet." He telekinetic grappled Holocaust and slammed him into the ground.

"I don't mean to sound hopeful, but it looks like he's holding his own" Armor remarked, getting up from the ground.

"Useless...I'm useless..." Hanako mumbled.

"For Christs sake get a hold of yourself." Armor snapped, "We don't have time to fall to pieces." she glanced back at Nate, "Fingers crossed he can stop that thing..."

"So we're fine as long as Mindblast doesn't get tired?" Misha translated, then paused, "what do you mean it doesn't inspire confidence?" She looked at Shizune. "Oh. This is bad."

"What's bad?" X-23 asked as she got up from the ground.

"Voidstar says that when he collapsed in the danger room..." Misha winced, then shook her head "She says that if he uses too much power, his body will short-circuit and knock him out."

"Then we better think of a new plan, fast." Armor stated.

Hisao reached the DESTINI device and fumbled around on it.

"Dammit, its almost reached the end of the countdown." he muttered, then his fingers found a small latch on the bottom. He flipped it up and stared inside. Numerous wires and gears and crystals were perched in such a way that looked extremely complicated.

"How the hell am I supposed to turn this off?" Hisao asked helplessly, "I don't know the first thing about disarming bombs. Or seismic trigger devices, for that matter."

He winced as pins and needles felt like they stabbing him in the chest. "Of all the fucking times..." he mumbled, trying to force the feeling down.

Nate threw another punch, then doubled over in pain.

"GETTING TIRED?" Holocaust asked, a note of enjoyment in his voice.

Nate let a out a choked sound

"Damnit, Mindblast's down." Armor stated. "Hit Holocaust with everything you've got. Something is bound to get through."

As one, five X-men lunged at the figure. But nothing could stop him. Not adamantium claws, nor energy blasts, nor railgun bullets.

Holocaust let out another blast, and Hanako formed a shield right in front of his gun's barrel. The shield shattered, and Hanako collapsed, clutching her head.

"I know!" Misha cried out. "Voidstar, Armor, X-23, hold him off for just a few minutes. I've got an idea!"

'Hardhead, what-" Armor began, but the pink-haired girl had bolted off.

"Now that you can't fly, we're on even footing." Psylocke stated, brandishing the sword.

"Even?" My dear Betsy, you have no idea what I'm capable of, do you? I am going to wipe this planet clean of the filth that infects it." Angel blasted darts from his one remaining wing, then lept back. Psylocke charged, only for Angel to continue to leap back faster than she could sprint.

Betsy glared and threw the sword. It pinned Angel in his other wing and he collapsed in pain. Betsy quickly approached.

The pain in his chest was subsiding, but Hisao could do little except look at the rows of wires and gears. "So if the green wire connects to the red button and the white wire to the blue button..." he looked at the gemstone, which was flickering rapidly. "I've got less than a minute to figure this out... Come on..."

He stared at the console for a long moment.

"Oh FUCK IT!" he finally snapped, then grabbed every wire at once and yanked as hard as he could. There was a popping noise and the gemstone on top of the device shattered.

"Simple enough." he stated, than ran back to the battle.

Psylocke approached the prone Angel and tore the Muramasa blade out of his wing, leaving a long gash in the metal as she did so.

Angel stared up at her, hate glistening in his eyes. "Do you think this will stop us? You cannot stop the future."

Psylocke didn't respond, instead simply holding the sword at Angel's eye level. She prepared to drive the blade deep into his skull...

And then hesitated.

"Warren-" she stated, only for Angel to give her a sharp kick to the stomach. The blade flew out of her hands and landed several yards distant. She attempted to right herself, only for a pair of extremely strong hands to grasp her by the throat and begin choking her.

"War-ren.." she choked out.

"This is the end, Elizabeth." Angel stated, his voice like ice.

Armor dodged another blast of atomic fire and glanced over at her friends lying unconscious on the ground. X-23 was down, Nate Grey was down, Shizune was down, Hanako was down... She was the last one left standing. For a moment, she tried to catch her breath, only to feel her head grabbed by an inhumanly strong hand. She punched it with all her strength, to no use. The hand gripped tighter and tighter and tighter. She felt her force field weaken, then bend inwards. She attempted to reinforce it, but it was no use. It bent further and further inwards.

"Not like this." she whispered, "Please, not like this..."

And then she saw the fingers of the hand bend backward.

"WHAT. IS. THIS?" Holocaust grunted.

"You're not hurting anyone else." a voice spoke. "I swear to god, I will not let you or Apocalypse hurt anyone else. Ever again."

Hanako got up and ran towards the lurking figure a horde of force spikes flying out of her body to slam against Apocolypse's son. Holocaust turned and emitted a blast of fire at her.

It struck her square in the chest, but Hanako barely seemed to notice, her healing factor quickly repairing the scars that has formed.

"In the past couple months," Hanako stated angrily "I have been experienced a school shooing, kidnapped, brainwashed, set against my friends, had my home invaded twice, been forced to kill a psycho nutjob from the future, nearly lost multiple friends, and almost had my mind erased. I HAVE HAD ENOUGH!"

The fingers of Holocaust's hands were torn apart as if forced by some unnatural force. Armor dropped to the ground and glanced back.

"Survivor?" Armor asked.

Holocaust fired another blast of fire, only to be stopped by a forcefield that just barely held under the strain.

"What?" Hanako asked.

"I'm just surprised you'd help me after-"

"You think I'd let you die, just because of some mean comments?" Hanako asked, shaking her head.

Armor paused.

There was a roaring sound in the distance. The sound of twin hundred thousand horsepower engines being revved into life.

"You have got to be kidding me..." Armor mumbled, then jerked to Hanako, "Help me get Mindblast out of the way, he can't heal."

Armor grabbed the legs of the unconscious teenager and Hanako grabbed his arms. They began carrying him off to the side.

"COME BACK HERE." Holocaust intoned, "WE AREN'T FINISH-"

Apocalypse's son never got to finish his statement, as a brilliant black plane slammed into him point first at several thousand miles per hour.

There was a cracking sound as the containment suit reaching its stress limit, and then a sound like a thousand glass pains breaking as it shattered. Nuclear fire filled the area.

As the flame cleared, Armor looked down at Nate, who was beginning to stir, then back at where holocaust had stood. Several large pieces of crystal were scattered around the battlefield, all that remained of the monstrosity.

The door to the Blackbird opened, Misha walked out, grinning heavily

"How'd ya like that?" She asked.

"Not bad." Armor stated, "Not bad at all."

As the ground shook Psylocke reached her hands to her throat in a vain attempt to break free of Angel's grip, then reached out to touch his mind.

"_Angel, don't do this. Don't you remember who you used to be?" _she thought to him

The remnants of Angel's wing slashed Psylocke across the face in a brutal response to her question, leaving a nasty cut on her cheek

"You die here Elizabeth." Angel stated, "Right here, right now. A failure, just like everyone you work with."

And at that moment, Angel jerked back as a bolt of blue energy struck him in the back.

"Sorry to burst your bubble." Hisao stated, holding out his neural disruptor, "But I've come to like her. Now, I've broken your device and it looks like the others have taken out your companion, so why don't you just jerk around for a while while we contact SHIELD and have them get you a nice straightjacket to wear. Capisce?

Angel rolled around on the ground, spasming heavily. On reflex , a torrent of darts flew out of the remnants of his wing and began tearing into Hisao's body. He let out a choking sound as dozens of large cuts slices open.

Psylocke quickly got up and sprinted over to the Muramasu blade and picked it up. Returning to Angel, she held it right above his head.

"Betsy-" Hisao begin.

Psylocke swung the blade down, decapitating Angel with one fell swoop. As his head rolled off, Hisao attmped to right himself, looking down at the cuts that were beginning to repair themselves.

"Was there really no other way?" Hisao asked.

Psyclocke shook her head, "Warren wouldn't want to live like that. He'd rather die than hurt his friends...Much like...you know..." she resheathed the blade, then paused. Hisao noticed that a single tear was trickling down her face. "Deep down... I knew it would come to this. He never was the same after Apocalypse got a hold of him. Saving him would've required a miracle. But we're fresh out of miracles aren't we?"

Hisao looked down at his feet, "I'm sorry." he stated.

Psylocke shook her head, "Don't be... You protected the person you care about. That's all I would've done, that all...anyone... would have done..." Psylocke finally lost her composure at that point and began sobbing heavily. Hisao reached over and put his arms around her, comforting her the best he could.

"Holocaust is down." Armor stated, the six other x-men walking up "Dead in fact, Misha did something pretty impressive... Psylocke?"

"Betsy?" Nate asked

"I-I'm fine." Psylocke stated, wiping tears from her eyes. "Help me gather Warren's body. I'd like to have all the parts for when I... cremate...it." She shook her head and swallowed.

The trip back home was spent in silence.


	17. 16: The Price That Was Paid

Chapter 16: The Price That Was Paid

**A few days later.**

Hisao stared at the blank page of chemistry homework he had been assigned, then glanced at his watch.

"Two hours I've been working on this and I still haven't done a single problem..." he mumbled and set his pen down. He had a 107% in the class, so one assignment wouldn't be too much of an issue, but his work ethic meant it still bugged him.

He reached over and picked up a framed photograph off the side of the desk. In it, he was posing with Hanako and Lilly under a Christmas Tree during their first holiday together. He sighed and put it down, then rubbed his eyes.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Lilly asked, walking up to him.

"I..." Hisao begin, then paused. He picked up the photo again. "Lilly..."

"Yes?" Lilly asked.

Hisao paused again. Truthfully, he wasn't sure what he wanted to say, what he could say.

"Did I do the right thing?" He finally asked.

"Well, what do you think?" Lilly asked.

Hisao placed the photo back down, then scratched his head. "I don't know. I thought I did, but I'm not sure now." He gave a guilty look, "I never thought I would see the day when Betsy cried..."

Lilly nodded.

Hisao sighed, "What kind of person am I, to decide who lives and who dies like I did? I'm not God, I'm not fate, I'm not even an X-man, really... Hanako's better, yes, but her survival came at the cost of a very good man. I left Armor pissed, Psylocke broken hearted and Angel dead. None of them deserved that."

"Have you asked Emi?" Lilly asked.

Hisao shrugged, "During my run yesterday, yeah. Angel's soul has already moved on. She can't bring him back like she did Magnus or Yuuko..." He fiddled with his pen some. "I just don't know. I keep thinking there might have been something else I could do, but I don't know what..."

Lilly thought for a moment. "Let me give you a situation we discussed in my biomedical ethics class." she stated.

Hisao nodded.

"Let's say you have three people." Lilly stated, "A surgeon, roughly sixty years of age who is skilled in his field and well respected in the community. A writer, thirty years of age, who is still working on getting his first book published, and a teenage girl who is in high school who enjoys watching anime and playing the violin. All three of them need a liver transplant and will die in a few weeks if they don't get one. But you only have one organ. Which do you choose to save and why?"

"I... I don't know." Hisao admitted, "Is this hypothetical?"

Lilly shook her head, "Not in the least. There are so many people who need organs in this day and age, and so few organs available, that this situation occurs literally every day. It is exactly like what you had to decide. Who deserved to be saved the most. There is not really a "right" or "wrong" in this sort of scenario. But, speaking for myself, I am very grateful you chose the way you did. Very grateful."

Hisao nodded weakly, "Which would you choose? In that scenario you described?"

"Well, I thought about it for a long time, and I finally decided on the student." Lilly shrugged, "Because there's a chance she could become a famous musician one day."

Hisao thought for a moment and shook his head, "I don't think I can subscribe to that train of thought. By that same logic, she could also become a serial killer or scam artist."

Lilly nodded, "What would you do?"

Hisao looked down at the floor. "Knowing just the professions and ages... I'd choose the surgeon. Because he likely saved thousands in his career and could go on to save thousands more. And he deserves to live after giving so much back." he then hung his head, "And that makes me a hypocrite, doesn't it? Because I chose to save Hanako over the much more experienced Angel simply because I like her better..."

"I don't think that makes you a hypocrite." Lilly responded, "It just means you have feelings. That you care about those who are close to you."

Hisao fiddled with his pen some more. "It's not fair, you know? I was destined to die young, but I got an unexpected reprieve. Why couldn't Angel? We've got a ton of breaks most people would considering miracles. My heart won't kill me, you can see with my telepathy, Emi finally got to say goodbye to her father... Why didn't Angel get lucky like that?"

"You could say he did." Lilly responded, "Do you know why he had metal wings instead of feathered ones?"

Hisao shook his head, "I haven't gotten to that file yet."

"Well, I did some reading while you were gone." Lilly sighed, "Long time ago, he had feathered wings, as you've seen in the old photographs of the team. There was an incident at one point where a band of trained killers started slaughtering homeless mutants in the tunnels under Manhatten. Warren was cornered by two of them."

"But he was one of the most experienced X-men there was..." Hisao responded

"Bear in mind that Warren's wings made navigation in the cramped tunnels extremely difficult. He fought the best he could, but the close quarters proved to be too limited, and they got the best of him." Lilly sighed, "They tore his wings out by the roots."

Hisao flinched.

Lilly shook her head, "Shortly after he went to fly his plane, but it exploded in midair. His friends he had committed suicide. He hadn't, the plane had been sabotaged, but Warren would have died there."

"But Apocalypse came in?" Hisao asked.

"Yes, teleported him out and gave him new wings.."Lilly replied

Hisao nodded. "I just wish there had been a way to save both of them."

"You have superpowers, but you're not God." Lilly replied, "You can't rescue everyone."

"I know." Hisao responded, "I wish I could."

There was a knock on the door.

"Are you expecting someone?" Lilly asked.

Hisao shook his head, "Not really..." he got up and walked to the door, "Laura, if this is about your writing, can we please do it some other-" he stopped dead in his tracks. It wasn't Laura.

It was Logan. Dressed in blue jeans and a black jacket, with a cowboy hat on his head.

"Evenin, 'Sao." Wolverine stated.

"Uh, hey there. This my girlfirend Lilly, Lilly, this is Logan the leader of X-corps Toyko..." Hisao remarked, then looked down at his feet, 'Are you mad about Hanako?"

"What, that you chose her?" Logan shook his head, "Nah, I'm not mad. Pretty impressed you managed to maneuver around 'Locke like you did, actually. She hasn't been outwitted like that in ages. But that's not important." he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small white envelope. "I'm here about the gun you built."

"What gun?" Lilly asked

Hisao shrugged, "I built a neural disruptor to take down Angel." he stated.

"Is that what you call it?" Wolverine shrugged, "Yeah, that. Pretty nice piece of work, that. Considering Flyboy's healing factor was somewhere between mine and Omega Red's, the fact you cobbled something together to take him down in the span of two weeks stood out."

"Well, I did have help." Hisao stated.

"From what Kenji said, you did most of the work yourself. All he did was supply materials." Wolverine paused and added, "Yeah, he talked to me. Guy's a raving looney but after hacking into our secured line and pestered us for days on end, we decided to hear what he had to say."

Hisao raised an eyebrow, "What did he do _this_ time?" he asked reluctantly.

Wolverine chuckled.

"Hisao, what's this about?" Lilly asked.

"What's this about is that we want to hire your boyfriend here." Wolverine shrugged.

"Seriously?" Hisao asked, "I don't want to be a combatant in this absurd lifestyle. I want to be a teacher, for crying out loud."

"Not a combatant." Wolverine responded, "We want you as tech support."

"What." Hisao stated.

"Tech support. Maintenance. Mission control. Whatever." Wolerine threw up his hands, "Look, fact is, you're the most scientifically minded guy on base. I can't find my way round a schematic to save my ass, and the others aren't much better. We'd like you to build our junk. Forge and Beast can only do so much, and they live halfway round the world."

Hisao looked Wolverine up and down.

Wolverine held out the envelope. "Here's our initial offer."

Hisao hesitated, but took it and opened it up. Then blinked.

"There m-must be some mistake." he stammered out. "My dad doesn't make this much in three years, and he's an aerospace engineer."

Lilly reached over his shoulder and touched the piece of paper. "That is quite... substantial." she remarked, a note of surprise in her voice.

"Between the three main teams of X-men, the half dozen spinoffs and the eight or so branches of X-corps that exist," Wolverine stated, "We've got over a dozen millionaires on staff, plus two kings, three queens, two cosmic-powered women, a thief who once stole a gemstone worth more than a small country, a student whose touch turns base metals to gold, and the boyfriend of a rock star who has an entire continent made out of diamonds. Literally, an entire continent. We can afford to be generous."

Hisao stared at the paper for a long moment. Then he glanced at Lilly.

"You don't have to quit yer studies or anything." Wolverine added, "Just help us build our junk when ya get spare time."

"It is a lot of zeros..." Hisao mumbled, "Lilly, what do you think?"

Lilly shrugged, "It's your decision sweetheart."

Hisao stared at the piece of paper for a long moment, then wiped the sweat from his brow. It _was_ a lot of money. If he took the offer, he could pay for his tuition, buy a nice house, a better car, help his friends with any problems that may arise...

And buy the best wedding he and Lilly could have.

"Alright." he said to Wolverine, "I'll do it."


	18. Epilogue: The Nightmare Before Tomorrow

Epilogue:

**Elsewhere...**

"What a disaster." Ozymadius stated, "One dead, the other beyond our reach."

"No." Apocalypse intoned, "A minor setback, that's all."

"Minor setback?" Ozymandius responded, "My lord-"

"Worthington was weak." Apocalypse stated, "Ikezawa has rejected my blessing. There is no need for them in the new world to come. Soon, the Age of Apocalypse shall rise, and Xavier's dream shall be forgotten."

The ancient mutant walked up to a video monitor showing images of Hisao, Hanako and Lilly.

"I believe... We shall be seeing them soon." Apocalypse stared at the monitor and his stony face broke into a wide grin.


End file.
